Second Home
by XxASLxX
Summary: After Sabo's death, Ace and Luffy meet some interesting people. Will Ace finally learn to trust people and act like a kid for once? Follow Ace's and Luffy's journey with the Whitebeard pirates! (10yr old Ace, 7yr old Luffy!)
1. Meeting WB Pirates

**Chapter 1 : Meeting WB Pirates**

Ace came to the cliff where he saw Luffy with his body face down. He blew on his fist to get ready for his own 'Fist of Love.' He striked Luffy hard on the head. Instead of whining like usual, Luffy just pulled his hat on harder, covering his whole head.

"How long are you gonna keep moping?" Ace asked while crossing his arms. Luffy responded by clutching his hat harder while trembling.

"All the money we hid is gone," Ace sighed. "It might've been stolen from Bluejam's crew or the military found it, but the money doesn't matter anymore. Sabo and I were going to use it. Since he never got to use it, then that's that. There's no point gathering treasure anymore if we can't even take care of it." Ace decided.

"A-Ace...I...want to become stronger! Stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and even stronger than that!" Luffy kept repeating like a mantra. "And then I'll be able to protect anything, I won't have to lose anyone ever again!" Luffy declared.

"Please Ace...don't die!" Luffy wailed.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ace punched Luffy in the head. "You should be more worried about yourself than me. You're way weaker than I am!" Ace yelled.

"Listen up, and remember this Luffy! I will NOT die!" Ace vowed.

Luffy slowly got into a sitting position and nodded with tears dropping. "Mmm!"

"Sabo made that request too. I promise, I will not die! There's no way I'd die and leave a weakling of a brother like you." Ace said.

"Mmm!"

"I'm not all that smart so I'm not sure what killed Sabo but whatever it was, it was the opposite of freedom. Sabo died without ever gaining freedom but the two of us are still alive so listen up Luffy, we will definitely live life without regrets!" Ace and Luffy gazed at the vast ocean in front of them.

"Someday we will go out to sea and live life the way we want to with more freedom than anyone else. Gramps will become our enemy but no matter what, we will become pirates!" Ace declared for all to hear.

"Uhhh!"

"Come on Luffy, let's go back." The two started walking to their self-made tree house.

Once they got there, they reset the traps in case of intruders during the night.

The two brothers took a short rest before going outside again to hunt for food. Luffy was munching on some meat while Ace was scouting the horizon with their telescope for 'potential threats'.

"Ehhh!? A pirate ship! Oi Luffy, come here!" Ace brought the telescope to Luffy.

"Seriously!? Wahh it's a real pirate ship!" Luffy marveled. "Neh, Ace? Do you know who's mark that belongs to?" he questioned.

"No. Maybe it's the Red-Haired guy you always talk about?"

"You mean Shanks? No, he said he won't come back for a really long time."

"Let's check them out." Ace suggested.

* * *

"Oyaji, we should be in Dawn island in an hour or so." one of the navigators said.

"Is that so?" Whitebeard said while taking a swig of sake, much to the nurses' protest.

"Oyaji, are you sure you want to make a stop here? I hear it's Garp's hometown." Haruta, the twelfth division commander said nervously. She was so not looking forward to fighting the old geezer during their 'vacation.'

"It's fine. I don't think Garp would start a fight with us unless he wanted his hometown destroyed." Whitebeard chuckled. "Since we only need meat provisions, we'll dock on the forest side so we don't panic the villagers." he decided.

"Ayyy!" Everyone shouted.

"Marco, Thatch." Whitebeard called.

The first and fourth division commander walked leisurely up to the giant man. "Yes Oyaji?" they both said at the same time.

"I want you two to scour the forest to see if there are any food."

"Got it."

* * *

"Ace, we should hide here." Luffy pointed to a bush right next to their hideout. "They might try to destroy our secret base." Luffy pointed out.

"Good idea Luffy." The two then proceeded to wait behind the bush. After waiting a whole minute, a certain someone got bored.

"Acccceeee. This is boring. I don't think they'll come here plus I'm really hungry." Luffy complained while grabbing his stomach.

"Luffy, you just ate an hour ago! Have more self-control." Ace reprimanded.

"But I'm-" Ace covered Luffy's mouth.

"Be quiet, I hear someone coming." Ace whispered while pushing Luffy lower so they'll be hidden.

They both stopped making sounds and were listening closely for the intruders. They heard faint footsteps for about three seconds until everything went quiet. Ace and Luffy both peeked out of their bush to see what had happened only to see two grown men staring down at them.

"AHHH!" they both screamed in surprise.

The man with the pompadour hair style spoke first. "Heh, look at what we have here."

Ace responded to this 'threat' by pushing Luffy behind him while they both gripped their pipes, glaring at the commanders. "What the hell are you doing here?" Ace growled.

The pompadour man took no offense to the boy and smiled. "We were looking for some provisions because we're running low on stocks for our ship." The man informed.

"Wahh ship!?" the little boy jumped. "Are you guys really pirates! Sugeeeeee!" The little boy literally had stars in his eyes.

The two older men couldn't help but chuckle at the little boy's spirit.

The other man with a pineapple shaped hair spoke up. "Won't your parents be worried that you're out here in the forest -yoi? There's a lot of dangerous animals here."

"Che." Ace snorted while crossing his arms. "Nothing we can't handle."

"My name is Thatch." the pompadour man said. "And this-" he pointed at the blonde man. "-is Marco. We're Whitebeard pirates."

"Whitebeard? Never heard of him." Ace mocked. Secretly, Ace knew very well about this man. How could he not? Everyone knew that Edward Newgate, A.K.A., Whitebeard, was the strongest man in the world. It's also well known that he's the closest one to the greatest treasure ever, One Piece.

"Oh I know that Ossan!" Luffy chirped. This caused everyone but Luffy to raise their eyebrows.

"What do you mean you know him -yoi?" Marco inquired.

"Shanks said that he's really really huge and really really strong." Luffy replied happily.

"Shanks? You mean Red-Haired Shanks? One of the Yonkous!? How do you know him?" Thatch exclaimed.

Luffy unconsciously clutched his straw hat. "Shanks stayed at my village for a year. He gave me this hat and I'm supposed to return it to him once I become pirate king!" Luffy explained proudly. He always loved talking about his role model, the man that he would soon surpass.

"Ah, I see. But why are you in Mt. Corvo? Even if you are strong, it's not safe."

"We can take care of ourselves just fine!" Ace snapped. He was getting tired of the two strangers that were implying that he was weak. So what if he was a kid? He can do just fine!

"We live here." Luffy stated while digging his nose with a monotonous face.

"You live here, in the forest?!" Thatch exclaimed.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Ace glared at Marco and Thatch. They both were unwavered by his glare.

"You live here by yourself? Where's your parents -yoi?" Marco questioned.

"Don't got any."

"Then who takes care of you?"

"Dadan and the others. They're mountain bandits." Luffy informed.

The two commander's eyes widened considerably after learning this information. Ace however was furious.

"Luffy why the hell are you telling them that!" Ace punched Luffy in the head, leaving a huge bump.

"That hurt ACE!" Luffy whined with tears brimming out.

"Shut up, that's what you get for being an idiot. We're leaving." Ace dragged an unwilling Luffy back to their secret base leaving the two stunned men behind.

"We should tell Oyaji about this." they both muttered to each other.


	2. Meeting with the Captain

**Chapter 2 : Meeting the Captain**

Marco and Thatch had finally looked through the forest and were returning to the Moby Dick.

"Ah, my sons, you're back. What took you so long?" Whitebeard inquired.

"Sorry Oyaji. We met some interesting kids -yoi." Marco and Thatch walked on the deck and were now in front of their 'father.'

"Kids? Since when do you hang with kids?" Jozu raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Whitebeard also looked at his sons, curious about their answers.

Marco chose to ignore Jozu's question. "Anyways, there were two of them. I think their names were Ace and Luffy."

"Ace looked about nine or ten and acted like he got a pipe shoved up his ass. Luffy was a bit younger and the complete opposite, he was all jumpy and happy." Thatch informed.

"Gurarara, sounds like an interesting pair of brats." Whitebeard bellowed. Marco however, had a deep frown on his face, much to Whitebeard's dislike.

"What's wrong, my son?"

"I was just thinking about something they said -yoi. They said that they live in the mountains with mountain bandits. They don't have any parents -yoi." Marco carefully studied his father's face and he smiled. He knew that expression anywhere. It's the look when Whitebeard is thinking about recruiting that person into their family.

"Oyaji...?" Marco smirked knowingly.

"Find the brats and bring them here. I want to meet them."

"Roger that." Marco and Thatch said simultaneously.

* * *

"This forest is really getting on my nerves," Thatch said as he slashed the sixth animal that tried to kill him.

"I wonder how the kids grew up in a place like this?" Marco had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"AHHH!" a childish voice screamed.

"LUFFY!"

Marco and Thatch started running to the source of the screams. When they got there, to say they were surprised would be an understatement. Their jaws dropped to the ground at the sight they saw. There, Ace and Luffy were sitting proudly on a huge tiger that was clearly defeated.

When both the commanders saw the smug look Ace was giving them, they quickly picked up their jaws and composed themselves.

"Surprised?" Ace smirked.

"Did you see that! So cool right?!" Luffy was beaming at them.

"Yeah..." the two men managed to squeak out.

Ace jumped down the tiger, Luffy following. "What are you two still doing here?" It was obvious to the two men that they were clearly not welcomed here.

Thatch decided to take advantage of Luffy's love for pirates and smiled kindly. "Do you guys wanna meet Whitebeard?" he offered.

"Of course! Let's go Ace!"

"No."

"But whyyy~" Luffy whined.

"Idiot," Ace punched him. "It could be a trap for all we know. Remember what happened with Bluejam?"

Luffy immediately stopped complaining and glared at the commanders. His glare had softened a few seconds later though. "Ace, they won't hurt us. They're good people."

Ace knew that Luffy's instincts were never wrong but that didn't mean he could let his guard down. He couldn't trust them. Not yet anyway.

'Who is this Bluejam?' Thatch thought. He looked to his right and saw that Marco was just as confused.

'Did this Bluejam guy make them scared of pirates? No, Luffy was excited when he heard we were pirates.' Marco however snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the two retreating figures.

"Oi, don't you want to see a _real_ pirate ship?" Thatch yelled to the two kids. They immediately turned around and started walking back.

Marco could see the curiosity behind the frown on Ace's face. "It's really huge. One of the biggest pirate ship ever made!" he exclaimed, hoping to get Ace somewhat on board.

Thatch could see the inner battle in Ace's head. "We may be pirates, but we don't harm children."

"Okay," Ace relented after a couple of minutes. "But only for a short while and we get to take our pipes with us."

"Yay! We're gonna see a real pirate ship!" Luffy cheered.

All four of them started walkng to the shore where the _Moby Dick_ was docked. Ace, Thatch, and Marco could only watch in amusement as they watch Luffy bouncing everywhere, chanting 'ship,ship,ship!' When the ship finally came into sight, Ace and Luffy could only stare at the ship in awe. The ship was almost the size of a small island and had a big whale in the front. The only pirate ship they saw before was Naguri's, but his was basic and had no design.

Marco and Thatch just smiled at their awe-struck face. This was the first time they ever saw an expression that wasn't a frown on Ace's face.

"Come on, Oyaji is waiting for you guys."

Thatch and Marco were walking on deck with Ace and Luffy following closely. Ace and Luffy were gazing at the ship as they got closer to Whitebeard's chair. It wasn't until they both ran into the commanders' back and fell onto their butt when they realize they were in front of the strongest man in the world.

"So these were the brats you were talking about huh?" Whitebeard leaned in a little closer to get a better look at them.

"WAHHH Giant Ossan! Neh, is that a white banana under your nose!? Can I eat it?!" Luffy exclaimed

'This one must be Luffy,' Whitebeard thought. 'He sure fits the description perfectly.'

Whitebeard continued staring at the straw hatted boy. Ace immediately noticed this and shoved Luffy behind him and got into a fighting position.

"Gurarara, cheeky brat." Whitebeard then chugged a huge bottle of sake before looking at the brats again.

"Do you brats wanna become pirates?"

"No." Everyone within the hearing range was stunned at the little one's blunt answer. "I want to become the Pirate King!" Luffy exclaimed. Everyone besides the commanders and Whitebeard face-planted on the floor.

"You're a hundred years too young to become Pirate King brat!"

"I don't care. I WILL become the Pirate King!" Luffy huffed.

Whitebeard smiled in amusement at the young one's antics. "I see. You runts can look around the ship if you want."

At that moment, Ace's and Luffy's stomach grumbled loudly. Ace looked away in embarrassment while Luffy groaned dramatically.

"Food..."

Thatch chuckled an threw an arm around the two brothers. "Why don't we eat first, then tour, hm?" He guided them to the galley.

Thatch placed two plates filled with different kinds of meat, vegetables, and fruits. "Here, dig in."

The two kids just stared at Thatch with a blank expression. "You could of poisoned this." Ace pointed out.

Thatch looked bewildered at the accusation. "I would never do that!" Thatch ate a little of each plate to prove his point. "See? I'm not dying. Oh wait-" Thatch started making choking sounds until Marco came and hit him on the head.

"Stop playing around -yoi. Don't worry, the food isn't poisonened. Thatch just likes being an idiot." Marco explained. Ignoring the complaints from his friend, he got his own plate of food and sat down at the same table as the brats.

Ace and Luffy started scarfing down all of the food at an alarming pace. Some of the other crewmembers were surprised but then started placing bets on who would choke first. After Luffy turned a nice shade of blue, followed by some groans and cheers from crew members, they were done eating.

It took half an hour for the whole tour of the ship and now, they were all resting on the deck. "When I become a pirate, I want a ship this big, no wait, I want it bigger than this!" Luffy exclaimed.

"My ship will be bigger than yours Luffy!" Ace taunted.

"Eh no way! Mine will be...the size of an island."

"It will be harder to move around," Thatch commented.

"That's true..." Ace said thoughtfully.

"I changed my mind! I want a small one that's comfortable!" Everyone sweatdropped at the sudden change.

"Imagine Gramps listening to our conversation," Ace and Luffy shuddered.

"Gramps?" Marco asked.

"Mmm. Gramps wanted us to be Marines but we don't wanna." Luffy pouted while turning his head away.

At that moment, a person came out onto the deck, yawning. The person was wearing a fancy blue top coat with a white scarf and a slightly damaged black top hat with broken blue goggles resting on the rim.

Ace and Luffy felt the hairs on their neck stand up and turned in that direction. What they saw shocked them to no ends.

"SABO!?"


	3. Fight Between Brothers

**Chapter 3 : Fight Between Brothers**

 _At that moment, a person came out onto the deck, yawning. The person was wearing a fancy blue top coat with a white scarf and a slightly damaged black top hat with broken blue goggles resting on the rim._

 _Ace and Luffy felt the hairs on their neck stand up and turned in that direction. What they they saw shocked them to no ends._

 _"SABO!?"_

* * *

Everyone on deck turned their attention to the guests.

"Hey, Sabo!"

Ace and Luffy were running to 'Sabo' when they accidentally ran into the mast. They got up and their faces scrunched up when they realize they confused Sabo with a mast.

Luffy walked away. "Sabo was such a kind older brother." Luffy sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean!? Would you rather _I_ die instead?!" Ace yelled.

"I never said that!" Luffy retorted.

"But that's basically what you meant!" Ace punched Luffy hard in the head.

"ITEEE!" Luffy nursed his head bump. "Sabo never punched me like that!"

"What was that!?"

"What's with you!? Be a little nicer, will you?"

"No way!"

Ace and Luffy started walking away from each other. They both jumped off the ship and into the forest in different directions. Thatch looked concerned after seeing them stormed off.

"Marco, should we talk to them?" Thatch asked.

"Yeah, I'll get Luffy, you get Ace." Marco and Thatch jumped off the ship as well and went into seperate directions.

'Who's Sabo?' Marco thought.

'Is it a type of food? Wait, I'm starting to think like Luffy. Damn it.' Thatch pondered.

* * *

Marco was walking through the forest for a long time until he saw a small hunched figure under a tree. He wasn't used to cheering kids up, heck, he doesn't even know how to talk to them. Kids were usually whiny so he avoided them. He stood there awkwardly, waiting for Luffy to notice him. When he realized that wasn't going to happen he sighed and stood next to him.

"You okay brat?"

"I'm not a brat, I'm Luffy." Luffy mumbled into his hands.

"Okay, sorry, _Luffy._ " Luffy didn't respond and Marco decided to use his one weakness against him.

"You wanna hunt together for food?"

Luffy perked up immediatly and cheered. "Yay! Let's go!" he chirped.

Marco sweatdropped at his mood change. They were walking around when Marco asked him. "Why are you and Ace fighting?"

"Because Ace is a stupid-head." Luffy reasoned.

Marco decided to ignore that and voiced out something he's been wondering about. "Who's Sabo?"

"He's our brother. But he's dead. A dragon killed him."

"Dragon?" Marco raised one of his eyebrows.

"Mmm. Those rich dragons with ugly faces. I hate them."

A sudden realization hit Marco. "You mean the Celestial Dragons?"

"Yeah!" Luffy beamed, happy that he got something right. "Ah! I wasn't supposed to tell anyone! Forget what I said." he quickly said.

Marco clenched his fist in anger. He knew they were ruthless and killed anyone like it was nothing, but hearing it from someone, a kid no less, made him want to destroy something. He quickly hid his anger. He didn't want Luffy to think he was directing his anger at him. He noticed Luffy was walking a little slower and had his hat shadow his eyes.

Marco quickly changed the subject. "Hey, look at that bear!" Luffy immediately looked up with drool forming on his lips.

"Looks tasty!" Luffy ran up to the bear, dodged a paw, and landed a hit on the bear's head with his pipe. The bear went down from the one hit, unconscious.

"Hmm, it doesnt have a lot of meat like the other one but I guess this is okay."

Marco knew these kids were stronger than other kids but he couldn't help but get surprised everytime.

"Nice one kid." Marco complimented. Luffy beamed at his approval.

Marco started a fire and immediately started roasting the bear. "Where did you learn how to fight like that?"

"Grandpa. I also copy Ace and Sabo sometimes."

"You're Grandpa taught you how to fight?"

"Mm. He's really really strong. But so mean." Luffy turned pale at the thought of his past 'trainings.'

"How's he mean?"

"I don't want to fight monkeys anymore." Luffy said abruptly.

Before Marco could ask, Luffy explained. "Grandpa would make me fight monkeys. They were _really_ strong. He said this is training to be Marines." Luffy pouted.

Marco was pensive as he digested what he heard. 'Sounds like a crazy man to me.' Marco thought.

Marco and Luffy spent the next half hour hunting and eating until they were both satified. "Let's head back to the ship."

* * *

Thatch was walking, humming Bink's Sake when he finally found Ace. He just took down a huge crocodile and now noticed Thatch.

"What do you want?" Ace grunted.

"Let's go back to the ship. I'll make some food for you." Thatch suggested.

"Forget it. I'm not Luffy you know."

"Aren't you bored all alone? We can hang around the ship. You don't have to talk to Luffy if you don't want to, you can ignore him."

Ace contemplated this. He loved hunting but it _was_ getting boring without Luffy. Not that he would ever say that to him. "Fine."

"Why are you guys mad at each other?"

"Luffy was annoying the hell outta me."

"Oh. Well it look like you guys weren't really mad at each other, more like you were just taking your anger out at each other." Thatch smirked.

Ace glared at what he was implying. He did not do that. He got mad at Luffy beause he wss being an idiot, not because of Sabo's death. Right? 'Well I was the one that got angry first. Wait, it wasn't my fault though! Luffy pretty much said he wanted me dead and Sabo alive. I think. Damn it, it is my fault. Sabo told me to take care of Luffy, but look at me.'

Thatch was trying to study Ace's expression. What was that? Regret? They continued their walk in silence.

'I am a miracle worker.' Thatch thought.

When they could finally make out the _Moby Dick_ , Ace started running towards it. Thatch smiled and started sprinting after him.

* * *

"Marco and Luffy aren't back yet?" Thatch asked.

Vista rubbed his mustache in thought. "Nope."

At that moment, he saw Marco and Luffy on the coast, walking to the ship. They jumped over the ship and saw Thatch and Ace and started walking.

"Hey Luffy." Ace started.

"Hi Ac-oh wait I'm mad at you!" Luffy realized. He quickly turned away, not noticing the hurt on Ace's face. Ace pouted and turned away too. Thatch and Marco were startled at his pout. They could finally add a third expression after a frown and awe!

"Well time for dinner!" Thatch announced. Cheers from the crewmates and Luffy followed by a smile from Ace. 'It's only been a minute and we see a fourth expression.' They both thought at the same time.

Everyone went into the galley, lining up for their dinner. Ace, Luffy, Thatch, Marco, Haruta, and Izo sat on one table while everyone else went to their usual spots.

"Hey, are you an Okama?" Luffy asked innocently to Izo.

Everyone in the room froze and paled except for the two boys. They all knew how sensitive Izo can be when it comes to this. Hopefully he will have mercy on children.

"No. I'm a crossdresser. There's a difference. Is there a problem with that?" he threatened.

"No, why would there be a problem?" Luffy said indifferently.

"Most people would make fun of me." Izo muttered.

"Why would they do that?" Luffy wondered. "I think you look cool!" he exclaimed.

Izo smiled warmly at him and continued his meal. Thirty empty plates later, everyone was resting on the deck, doing nothing. Whitebeard had planned on leaving Dawn Island today but since his sons and daughters seemed to have grown fond of the two brats, including him, he decided to stay another week.

"Brats." Ace and Luffy immediatly sat up and stared at the giant. They were growing accustomed to that term.

"Do you want to join my family and sail under my name?"

Ace and Luffy were too shocked from the sudden question. Crew members around them were all smiling, hoping that they would say yes. Luffy stood up.

"No. The Pirate King can't sail under a Captain!" he exclaimed.

"You can stay with us until you're strong enough to be a Captain," Fossa suggested.

"We can't. Thank you for your offer." Ace said remembering his lessons from Makino. "We made a promise to set sail from Dawn Island at seventeen. We don't wanna break our promise."

"I see." Whitebeard was disappointed since he knew once they left the island, his children will be moping around, himself included, but he knew a promise is a promise.

"Oyaji!" Marco flew down from the crow's nest in his phoenix form. "There's ten battleships heading to the island." he informed with a stoic face.

"It's a Buster Call."

* * *

 **Sorry I killed off Sabo XD. I wanted to focus more on Ace and Luffy. The storyline for Sabo is still the same. He gets rescued by Dragon etc.**


	4. How did it happen?

**Chapter 4 : How Did It Happen?**

 _"Oyaji!" Marco flew down from the crow's nest in his phoenix form. "There's ten battleships heading to the island." he informed frantically._

 _"It's a Buster Call."_

* * *

Everyone on the _Moby Dick_ went silent. Eyes were bugged out, snot were hanging, and jaws were dropped for everyone except Whitebeard, some of the serious members, and the kids. Ace broke the uncomfortable silence.

"What's a Buster Call?" he asked curiously. Everyone just gawked at him, not answering his question. 'What's up with everyone's reaction.' he thought.

"It's when the Marines send ten battleships with five Vice Admirals." someone said numbly.

"Vice Admiral...?" Luffy wondered out loud. Luffy started scratching his head. 'Where have I heard this word before...' Luffy's face turned a bright red from all the thinking. 'GRANDPA?!' Luffy finally realized. He looked to Ace and saw that he was paling, probably thinking the same thing.

Everyone started panicking except for Whitebeard and the commanders.

"Marco."

"Yes, Oyaji?" Marco walked up to his father's 'throne.'

"I want you to go over there and firgure out their motives for initiating a Buster Call and the names of the Vice Admirals they sent." Whitebeard said. 'If the Buster Call is meant for us, then it will be bad if we end up getting Garp.' he thought.

"Roger that."

* * *

"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Garp bellowed.

"This isn't funny Garp!" Sengoku threw his hands down on his desk loudly while standing up. "That damn son of yours just did a coup d'é·tat on _another_ country!"

"BWAHAHA! I'd expect no less from my son!" Garp was now laughing so hard that tears were brimming in his eyes.

"Your family is gonna kill me one day." Sengoku muttered while sitting down again. A vein on his forehead started throbbing when he heard his stupid friend laugh at him.

"So, how are your grandsons?" he sighed, wanting to change the subject.

"You mean Ace and Luffy? They've gotten stronger! I tossed little Ace and Luffy down a ravine and they came back the next day alive! As expected!" Garp smiled proudly thinking about his 'cute' grandsons.

"Are you _trying_ to kill your grandsons?" Sengoku shaked his head.

"What! Of course no-Zzzzzzzz."

"Don't just fall asleep on me!" Sengoku yelled.

* * *

Akainu was listening intently to their conversation with the other Admirals. Sengoku had said that he had business to take care of. Apparently, Kaido was causing trouble on Fishmen Island. Rumors had said that Whitebeard was going to claim the island as his own to protect it, but he's currently residing in East Blue and won't be back for a while. Sengoku had given full authority to the Admirals while he would be away from Marine HQ. Akainu could only smirked at this new announcement.

"Now is my chance." he said quietly to himself.

* * *

Marco was flying in his Phoenix form until he landed on the closest Marine ship. Thanks to his stealth, no one noticed him walking around in the shadows. He looked for any hidden corners to do his 'interrogating.'

"Found one." he smirked.

He grabbed a random Marine, covered his mouth, and dragged him to the corner.

"Who do the hell do you thi-" he stopped when realization hit him. "Y-You're Marc-co the P-Phoenix!" the Marine soldier shouted only to get a hit to the head.

"Be quiet or I'll break your neck." Marco threatened quietly. Most people would see Marco as a calm, level-headed guy due to his appearance, but if necessary, he could make a grown man shit his pants.

The Marine immediately stopped whimpering. "W-What do you want with me?" the marine stammered.

"Why is there a Buster Call and who are the Vice Admirals that are in on it?" Marco interrograted.

"I-I'll tell you. The Vice Admirals a-are Strawberry, Yamakaji, D-Doberman, Onigumo, and Momonga." the man tried his best to not stutter, but it was a little difficult having Whitebeard's First Division Commander stare you down.

Marco sighed in relief. At least Garp was not included. The last thing he needed was to fight that crazy old man.

"We're supposed to destroy Dawn Island and k-kill Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy." he finally breathed out.

* * *

 **Sorry for the short chapter. Hehe. I might update again tonight or early morning tmrw. #**


	5. Trouble

**Chapter 5 : Trouble**

"We're supposed to destroy Dawn Island and k-kill Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy." he finally breathed out.

* * *

The whole world felt like it was crushing down on Marco. They're going to kill the brats, no, they were going to kill _his_ brats!? They've only known each other for a little while but that doesn't mean he didn't care! His breathing stopped at this news and now his shock turned into newfound anger.

"Don't joke about that!" He growled while giving his nastiest glare ever. He grabbed the soldier by his neck and proceeded to choke him.

"I-Im not-t!" The man managed to wheezed out.

Marco released his grip on the poor man when he realized this won't help anything and flung him overboard. He then went to the next ship and did the same thing. Again, the person said that the Buster Call was to kill Ace and Luffy. Cute little Ace and Luffy! Do they even know how much danger they are in right now? He could not believe this. Also, apparently they were going to destroy Dawn Island just to 'be sure.' All those innocent people, thrown away like trash. This only angered him further. 'I wonder why they wanted to kill Ace and Luffy? It must be something really big since the government is desperate enough to do a Buster Call on children. Ah whatever. Their safety is what matters right now. Marco then remembered that he had to report back to his father so he flew back to his ship.

* * *

When he landed on the deck, he saw that his fellow brothers and sisters were calm, totally unlike before. Marco was curious, but he decided to drop it. He had more important stuff to deal with.

"Oyaji! There's bad and good news. Good news is that Garp isn't here."

Everyone sighed in relief including Ace and Luffy which left Marco confused.

"Bad news is that the Buster Call is to destroy Dawn Island and to kill Ace and Luffy." Marco said calmly but there was a hint of anger in his voice.

Everyone started gawking at the brats like they had three heads.

Ace's eyes widened at this revelation while Luffy tilted his head, confused. "Why would they try to kill us, Ace?" He was really confused, more than usual.

Ace unconsciously pushed Luffy behind him. He glanced frantically around him as if he was expecting an attack to come out of nowhere. 'Why would they kill us?' Ace pondered. 'We dine n dash a lot but to call ten battleships? That's crazy. Unless...' Ace gasped. He grabbed Luffy and held him close. 'There's no doubt about it. They found out about our fathers and are trying to kill us.'

"Ace?" Luffy looked up at his brother curiously.

Said brother looked at his little brother pitifully. He had no idea how much danger he was in which only made him grip his brother harder. He was going to protect him. He wasn't going to lose the one person that actually cared about him. He didn't want to go through that again. No, he would protect Luffy even if it meant death.

"What do we do Oyaji?" Izo questioned. There's no way he was going to let a single Marine lay a finger on his brats. Sure, they might be annoying at times but they were still family! He didn't care for whatever crimes they may have committed.

Everyone waited in silence, waiting for their father's decision. 'Maybe this is a chance for them to join us?' some of them thought.

"We wait." Their father said simply. "Namur, Curiel, Kingdew. Go warn the villagers about this. Tell them to pack their belongings and to go to the coasts." The three nodded and headed into Fuusha Village. "Blenheim and Jiru, warn the people of Edge Town and help them evacuate."

The commanders jumped off the ship to do their missions.

"Oh what about Dadan!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Oh shit." Ace realized. "We have to warn her! They might kill her. C'mon Luffy!"

"Uhh!"

The two were stopped from running off by a booming voice.

"It's not safe for you. Haruta will warn her. Do not worry." Whitebeard smiled reassuringly.

Ace looked at the man warily. 'Why does he care whether we're safe or not?' Ace wondered.

Ace and Luffy couldn't help but pace around in trepidation. The possibilities were endless. Makino could get hurt. She was so nice to the two. She made clothes for them and sometimes would make them really delicious food. She was the first adult that Ace could actually trust, not counting Garp. She almost felt like a mother to Ace and Luffy. Oh! And Dadan and the others. Sure they could be annoying as hell, but that didn't mean they didn't care! Dadan knew both of Ace's and Luffy's heritage but she never ratted them out to the Marines. 'Who their father is...it's none of my business.' Ace heard Dadan say to Garp a couple months ago. After he heard their little conversation, his respect for his caretaker skyrocketed. Not to mention the fire in Gray Terminal. If she died, they would never be able to forgive themselves. Though Ace would never admit it, he sees Dadan as a mother figure, along with Makino. If they died, it would be like reliving Sabo's death.

Fifteen minutes later, all the commanders but one came back.

"All the people from Fuusha Village and Edge town have all their stuff packed and they are waiting by the coast," Namur reported.

"The only people that haven't left their homes are the nobles," Blenheim informed. "But I'm sure they'll get their own evacuation ship if they're going to burn down Dawn Island. "

The commanders that just came back were resting after running around the island. Haruta came and was the last to report in.

"Dadan and her bandits are at the coast as well." Haruta smiled at the two boys. They both felt strangely reassured by her smile. Whitebeard felt better knowing that the people would be safe, for now. If worse comes to worse, as in the Marines won't go away after asking, then he will have the villagers take one of his ships on his fleet and get to the nearest island immediately. Handling a Buster Call is actually quite easy. It usually depends whether or not the Vice Admirals were a pain in the butt or not. The Vice Admirals that were listed this time were tough, but not too tough. Whitebeard knew that his kids could handle this Buster Call without his help, but who knows. This won't stop the government from initiating another Buster Call, thinking that the brats were still on this island. They needed to leave. What would they do when he isn't here to help? The best solution is to get everyone off this island and to bring the brats with him. That way both the villagers and the brats would be safe. If only they would agree to this.

By now, the Marine ships were only five minutes away from reaching Dawn Island.

* * *

"Vice Admiral Strawberry!" a Marine shouted from the crow's nest. Said Marine jumped down, stumbled, and ran to his superior.

"What is it? " he grunted.

"Whitebeard! Whitebeard is on the island! He has the brats on board. They don't look they were taken hostage and it looks like his men are getting ready for battle!" He exclaimed.

"WHAT?" he shouted. "Alert the other ships. I will call Admiral Akainu about our next step."

"Yes sir!" The marine saluted before carrying out his duty.

* * *

"Admiral Akainu." Strawberry said through his Den Den Mushi. "There's been a problem with our mission."

"Problem? What kind?" The voice on the other side growled.

"Whitebeard is on this island protecting the kids. It looks they're gonna put up a fight for them."

The line on the other side went quiet. "Continue on with the plan." The voice finally said after a long time.

"I'll head over to Dawn Island myself."

* * *

 **Haha sorry for all the past cliff hangers and this one. They're really fun to do and idk how else to end a chapter. I don't want to end a chapter randomly. Also, i have a question. Would you like Luffy to stay with the WB crew or sail on his own at 17? I will not be updating tmrw.**


	6. Whitebeard Pirates vs Buster Call

**Chapter 6 : Whitebeard Pirates vs. Buster Call**

 _"Admiral Akainu." Strawberry said through his Den Den Mushi. "There's been a problem with our mission."_

 _"Problem? What kind?" The voice on the other side growled._

 _"Whitebeard is on this island protecting the kids. It looks they're gonna put up a fight for them."_

 _The line on the other side went quiet. "Continue on with the plan." The voice finally said after a long time._

 _"I'll head over to Dawn Island myself."_

* * *

The Vice Admirals and Whitebeard were having a stare down when their ships were finally in range. Atmos had suggested they fire warning shots, but Whitebeard had ordered to cease fire. Ace and Luffy were hiding below deck after much persuasion from the crew.

Ace was nervous, confused, and hopeful at the same time. He was nervous because he didn't want to die. He hasn't made a name for himself yet, he can't die yet! He didn't get to become a pirate and explore the gigantic ocean. He was also confused that the pirates were defending them. Part of him says that this is a trap and the Whitebeard pirates are working with the government, but another part of him says that they actually _cared_ about him, which left him hopeful.

Little Luffy was hiding behind Ace. He felt scared, but he was mostly excited. He wanted to fight with the pirates but nobody would let him. 'Hmmph. They all think I'm weak.' Luffy huffed.

* * *

"Hand over the brats Whitebeard. We don't want to fight with you." Vice Admiral Momonga said. All the Vice Admirals knew they didn't stand a chance against Whitebeard's crew, let alone Whitebeard himself.

"There's going to be a fight if you're going to take away my brats." Whitebeard stood up to his full length from his throne, bisento in his right hand.

All the Marine soldiers whimpered and scurried away from the railings.

'Wimps.' Everyone on the _Moby Dick_ thought.

"Everyone that is too weak to fight can just swim back to Marineford!" Vice Admiral Doberman yelled in frustration. The last thing he needed to deal with were cowards.

They gave one last whimper before they straightened out, doing their best I'm-not-scared-of-you look.

All the Vice Admirals had an emergency meeting via Den Den Mushi after Akainu had told them he will come to back them up. They didn't exactly know when he was going to come, but for now, the plan was to fight, stall, fight, stall.

"ATTACK!" Strawberry, Yamakaji, Doberman, Onigumo, and Momonga shouted at the same time.

"RAHHHHHHH!" the marines shouted as they jumped off their vessel onto their enemy's ship.

Clashes of swords and guns being fired could be heard on the other side of the island where the villagers were.

* * *

"Wahhhh!" a baby cried.

"Shhh. It's okay. Everything is going to be alright," the baby's mother comforted, mostly to herself.

Earlier, when some of the Whitebeard commanders started running around, telling them to evacuate because of a Buster Call, everybody started running frantically, gathering their belongings, and running to the coast.

The people were sitting on the sand, listening to the ensuing battle with concern. Here the villagers were just sitting on their asses, being protected by pirates while they did nothing. Some of the men were becoming irritated because they weren't fighting for their home like they should be and so they were preparing to fight by gathering anything that could be used as a weapon. They were about to leave to go fight when they saw a Phoenix flying to them. They didn't panic because they all knew that was Marco the Phoenix, one of the guys fighting for them.

"We're going to fight. Don't stop us." one of the villagers said.

"Sorry. Can't allow that. Captain's orders." Marco smiled a little at their bravery. "Oyaji ordered me to get you guys on the ship. He says he has a bad feeling about all of this." Marco pointed at a ship that looked like the _Moby Dick_ but was a lot smaller.

"Take the ship and head to the nearest island. The name of the island is Odayakana. After we're done with this, we'll head to the island ourselves to get our ship back." Marco explained.

"What about our home?!" a women exclaimed.

"They're going to destroy the island. It's not safe."

Everyone quieted at this information. Dawn island for some of them was their home for many generations. Watching it get taken away from Marines, the ones that were suppose to _protect_ them, was a little upsetting. Not to mention pirates are the ones that are saving their asses.

"Are Luffy and Ace okay?" a pretty young women with green hair and a bandana asked.

"Dadan had told me what's really going on and that you're protecting them." the women continued. "I know the safest place for them right now is with you guys so I ask if you can take care of them in my stead." she sighed. "But-if you ever hurt them or turn them in, I will personally hunt you down and kill you." the girl held up her broom to maker her point clear.

Marco sweatdropped at the sudden change.

"Now, now, let's calm down," a man that looked part-chicken said.

After promising the green-haired girl and the woman that claims to be Dadan a thousand times that he would take care of the brats and that they would see them again, he flew off.

* * *

Jozu was fighting off Vice Admiral Strawberry. The fight only lasted two minutes after Jozu saw an opening and gave a nice diamond-infused punch to the gut.

Yamakaji was laying unconscious after losing his battle to Marco a while ago.

Doberman was facing off with Thatch until Onigumo decided to surprise attack from behind. Luckily, Kingdew caught this and stopped his attack just in time. Their fight was over when Kingdew broke Onigumo's saber with his bare fist.

Thatch stood victoriously over a comatose Vice Admiral and sheathed his two katanas.

Momonga was looking at his surroundings and his panic started rising. He only took down sixteen crew members but no commanders. All of the commanders were still alive, and they don't even look tired. Especially the ones that took out his fellow subordinates. They looked like they didn't just take down a Vice Admiral.

'This is bad.' he thought. He really did not want to face his superior's rage.

Whitebeard was sitting back at his throne, watching his sons and daughters fight closely. He knew they could handle it, but he couldn't shake off this bad feeling he had.

A few moments later, all the Marines including the Vice Admirals had fallen and only the Whitebeard pirates stood. The commanders dragged the people in their division that were injured into the infirmary.

"Oyaji," Marco came up and was now standing next to his father.

"How are my children?" he asked worriedly.

"Counting all the divisions together, 56 is the total of all the injured. Thankfully, no one died or was critically injured. Mostly small gashes and broken bones," he reported.

"Good," Whitebeard was relieved but he was still bothered by this weird feeling. Marco had caught on to this and asked him.

"You still getting a bad feeling?" Marco asked worriedly.

"Ah. It's probably nothing. Do not make me worry you." Whitebeard said dismissively. Marco gave a quick nod and headed into the infirmary to check up on his siblings.

Marco knew that when his father predicts that something is going to happen, something _will_ happen. Something bad.

* * *

Ace and Luffy were sitting in the second division's bedroom, listening to the fight. Surprisingly, Luffy only asked Ace _once_ if he could join the fight. Ace figured it must be fear that is quieting Luffy. After a while, they felt cramped and was about to run out the door when he saw Marco appear before them. He looked a little surprised but he quickly changed to his usual bored-looking face.

"Can we please go out now?" Luffy was trying his best to be polite which honestly scared Ace and Marco a little.

"Not yet. There's a lot of dead bodies out on deck. You don't want to see that."

"It's not our first time seeing that." Ace scoffed. "Anyone died on our side?" Ace was really curious. There were no windows in the room, but he could hear quite clearly the fight.

Smiling that Ace had said 'our side,' he told him that the only ones that died were on the Marine's side.

Luffy's eyes sparkled. "You guys are so cool! Too bad I didn't get to see..." Luffy pouted.

Marco's heart broke when he saw Luffy's sad little pout.

"How about our next fight you get to watch? But that's only if you stay by one of the commaders or Oyaji." Marco offered.

"Really!? Okay, I forgive you."

Marco chuckled and ruffled Luffy's hair to which he responded by giggling. Marco was surprised again when Ace, being the protective brother he is, didn't protest.

"What do you mean 'next time'?"

Marco smiled gently. "Let's go to Oyaji." he said indirectly answering his question.

When they got on deck, they saw that all the Marines were gone and their ships were out of sight.

"We threw all of them on the ships and Oyaji threw their ships somewhere far far away." Thatch smirked playfully. He noticed Ace and Luffy and greeted them before heading to the galley to make dinner.

When Ace and Luffy were standing in front of Whitebeard, he wasted no time to get to the point.

"I know you said you had a promise and that you can't break it but I'd thought I should ask you again. Would you like to join my family and become my sons?" Whitebeard smiled kindly at them.

Ace was too shocked to respond while Luffy wasted no time.

"Of course! Yay I'm finally a pirate!" Luffy jumped up and down in joy while Ace just stared wide-eyed at his soon-to-be-father.

"Why...WHY DO YOU CARE?!" Ace shouted. Everyone turned their attention to the three.

"WHY ARE YOU PROTECTING US AFTER ALL OF THIS!?" Ace was shaking uncontrollably now.

"Ace..." Luffy whispered.

"Ace, we're protecting you because we're your family. That's what family do." Marco came up to Ace and place a hand on his shoulder.

"Why do you still want us after seeing how 'dangerous' we are. Don't you hate us?" Ace said so softly that people could barely hear.

"We're all children of the sea. It doesn't matter what crime you did or did not do. You would still be my family." Whitebeard wiped a stray tear on Ace's face.

After Luffy had finished hugging the shit out of Ace, everyone went about doing their usual things, occasionally giving warm smiles to the new members of their family.

"Are Makino, Dadan, and the others okay?" Luffy said in between bites.

"Yeah, they're heading to Odayakana Island right now along with the other villagers. Oyaji had said that we will be staying at Dawn Island until we receive a message that they got to Odayakana safely." Izo said.

Ace and Luffy nodded, continuing their meal.

* * *

 **I know I said I wouldn't be updating today but my friend kept bothering me to update so here it is! Yay no cliffhanger. Guess who's coming next chapter ... AKAINU! To the person that asked, yes their heritage will be revealed. I'm not good at writing fighting scenes or sappy emotional scenes, so sorry X_X .**


	7. The Truth Is Revealed

**Chapter 7 : The Truth is Revealed**

Sengoku was relaxing on Fishmen Island after finally settling the dispute with Kaido. They both fought briefly before Kaido had agreed to leave the premises if the Marines did not chase after him on his way back to the New World.

"Sir!" Sengoku's second in command rushed up to his superior.

Sengoku had put down his drink on the table next to him and was waiting for his subordinate's report.

"Admiral Akainu ordered a Buster Call on Dawn Island to wipe out Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy!" he blurted out.

"WHAT!?" Sengoku shouted out as he stood up. Sengoku was beyond furious. He had given full authority to the Admirals but they had abuse their power, or at least Akainu did. That man had an insane idea of justice. Sengoku was going to wait til the two boys became pirates, then he would apprehend them. They're only kids right now! They haven't done anything wrong to be killed. His eyes widen when he realize how his 'dear friend' would react to this news. He didn't feel like finding another Admiral at the moment, so he decided on heading back as fast as he can.

"We're heading back to Marine HQ right now." Sengoku instructed to his subordinates.

* * *

"WHATTTTT!?" Garp spat out the food he was munching on.

The Marine that had reported to the Vice Admiral was silently cursing Bogart for making him do this. Everyone on Garp's ship knew very well that the Portgas D. Ace and the Monkey. D. Luffy that were supposed to be killed, were Garp's grandsons. This sent all the Marines in a panic. They did _not_ want to deal with an angry Garp. An angry Garp is never a good thing. The only Marines that knew Garp had grandchildren were Sengoku, the Admirals, his own subordinates, and some of the other Vice Admirals after he accidently let the info 'slip' out.

Apparently, Akainu had made the Buster Call order _after_ Garp had left Marine HQ on his trip back to his hometown. Garp was torn between going back to HQ to kill Akainu or to check on his grandson's well being. He then decided he could kick his ass anytime so he settled on his orignal plan to return to East Blue.

'They better be alright.' Garp thought. He was so furious and scared at the same time. He knew it was a bad idea to ever get drunk in front of Akainu. That was how he had found out about the boys' fathers. Garp kept telling himself that the boys were strong and were probably able to escape like a mantra. But then he thought about the other people. Akainu would no doubt destroy the whole island, along with the people just like he did ten years ago on Ohara. His heart clenched when he thought about everyone.

* * *

Ace and Luffy were training their swordsmanship skills with Vista except instead of using swords, they practiced with their pipes. Everyone had saw the duo take down a huge tiger all by themselves. Everyone had a comical expression except Marco, Thatch, and Whitebeard. Marco and Thatch had already witness this while Whitebeard could already see the potential that was radiating off the brats. The commanders were determined to teach the brats all the skills they knew so that they could protect themselves in the future.

"You're getting better Ace," Vista complimented as he barely blocked a blow aiming at him.

"Heh." Ace smirked.

Luffy was watching the fight in astonishment. Ace had told Luffy to not stretch in front of the Whitebeard Pirates after their Grandpa had told them in _explicit_ details of all the possibilities if someone discovered that Luffy had a devil fruit ability.

After the brawl between Ace and Vista ended, it was Luffy's turn.

"I don't want to fight with my pipe." Luffy dropped his pipe at his feet and took an attack stance.

Vista twirled his moustache in contemplation.

"I'll spar with you," Kingdew smiled at Luffy. "I'm the only commander that does hand-to-hand combat so I shall be your opponent."

"YOSH!" Luffy shouted. "Get ready," Luffy started rotating his arm around and threw his punch.

Kingdew dodged the punch that aimed straight at him and watched in bewilderment as Luffy's arm stretched and continued to stretch until it hit the railing and hit Luffy back in the face.

Everyone took a while to comprehend what had happened until Ace broke the silence with his laughter.

"What kind of fight is this!" Ace roared loudly.

"Ouch that hurt." Luffy stood up slowly while rubbing his now red face. He noticed everyone gawking at him.

"What?" he tilted his head.

"Brat. Did you eat a devil fruit?" Whitebeard asked curiously.

"Mmm. The Gomu Gomu No Mi! I'm a rubber man now!" Luffy chirped while stretching his cheeks.

"Hm. It's rare to find a Devil Fruit user in East Blue," Whitebeard looked pensive.

"I got it from Shanks," Luffy informed happily.

Whitebeard raised an eyebrow at this.

"You know Red-Haired Shanks?" Kingdew kept getting surprises after surprises ever since he met these kids.

"Yeah."

"Oh yeah, you said something about meeting Shanks in your village right?" Thatch remembered.

"Yeah, but he was mean at first," Luffy pouted. "I tried to touch his hat and he got all angry, but we became friends later." Luffy smiled a smile that was too big for his face.

Whitebeard and the others smiled back and went back to what they were doing.

* * *

The next few days, Ace and Luffy got even closer to the Whitebeard Pirates. Ace would talk openly to all the pirates including Whitebeard. Ace and Luffy had started calling Whitebeard 'Oyaji' which left the crew to throw a party in celebration for their new additions to the family. They weren't used to having kids aboard but these kids were different. They were a lot more amusing and fun to hang out with. Whitebeard would occasionally tell Luffy and Ace stories of his adventures on the Grand Line.

Luffy would jump up and down in glee whenever he got to the peak of the story and Ace would just stare in awe.

Whenever Ace was close to Whitebeard, like when he's storytelling, he would always become anxious. He finally felt like he belonged somewhere but what would happen if they found out about his and Luffy's heritage? Would they hate them and kicked them off their ship? Ace was especially worried because he knew Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard had been rivals for a long time. How would he react if the son of his enemy was on his ship?

Ace was surprised that no one questioned why the Buster Call was targeting them. They acted like that event never happened which only made his respect for them deepened.

In reality, while the boys were sleeping before, Whitebeard had secretly ordered his sons and daughters to not ask the boys about the Buster Call to respect their privacy.

The whole ship was peaceful until one of the people on watch came running to his father.

"OYAJI! BAD NEWS, AKAINU IS HEADING HERE RIGHT NOW!" the person screamed. "We have about ten minutes til he comes here." he then started to freak out along with the rest of the crew.

"Prepare for battle." Whitebeard was the only one that remained calm including Marco, Ace, and Luffy.

"Who's Aknu?" Luffy looked at everyone with his big curious eyes.

"It's Akainu. And he's bad bad news!" Thatch gestured with his arms how dangerous the man is.

"Thatch. Take the brats into your room and stay with them in case something funny happens." Whitebeard ordered.

Thatch did what he was told and brought them towards the fourth division commander's room.

Luffy was pouting the whole time, and Thatch could see that Ace was about to do that as well before he realized what he was about to do. Thatch would of laughed if it weren't for what was happening right now.

"Don't worry brats. I have a window in my room. We can hear and see the fight clearly and no one from the outside can see us. It's a perfect spying place." Thatch smirked.

Ace and Luffy grinned in return and all three looked out the window, waiting for something to happen. When they realized that it wouldn't happen for a while, they striked up a conversation.

"So who's this Akainu guy that got people scared?" Ace asked. Ace thought he must of been really strong judging by people's reactions.

"He's a Marine Admiral, but he's terrible. He's a bad person that says he's 'upholding justice,' but that's just an excuse," Thatch explained. "Have you ever heard about the Ohara incident?"

With two shakes of the head, Thatch started telling the story about a young girl borned into an island filled with archaeologists and how a Buster Call destroyed the whole island along with the archaeologists. All of the non-archaeologists were on an escape ship provided by the Marines, but were killed anyway by Akainu 'just in case.' Thatch then pointed out that the 'Demon of Ohara' was around the same age as Luffy and was the sole survivor of the Buster Call and that she was being hunted by the government because of who she came from.

Ace listened to the story with his eyes shadowed. He never realized that other people might be going through what he went through. He knew that Luffy was in the same situation as he was, but the difference was that Luffy didn't know who his father was so he was never really affected.

"I'm making her my nakama. I won't let anyone else hurt her again." Luffy declared. He realized that this girl went through what Ace went through or is currently going through and wouldn't have any of that.

Thatch and Ace stared at Luffy a little surprised, but a sense of pride welled up in their chest. Luffy beamed and smiled at Ace knowingly.

"I can't wait til you guys meet my future nakama!" Luffy cheered.

Ace smiled his brightest smile ever since Sabo's death that caused Luffy smiled harder, if that was any possible.

"Can't wait too brat." Thatch ruffled his hair before returning his gaze at the window. "He's here."

* * *

The _Moby Dick_ and the Marine ship that Akainu was riding on were side by side now.

"Hand over the brats before I take them away by force." Akainu growled.

"Not a chance. Why do you want them so bad? Has the government stoop so slow that they want kids with the 'Will of D' to be killed?" This was the best conclusion that Whitebeard could come up with after the boys had told them their full names. Why else would they want them?

Akainu growled yet again. "You know very well why they need to be eliminated. They're demons that need to be killed so they're bloodline will cease to exist."

The Whitebeard Pirates' eyes hardened at this. One of the crew member let his anger take over him and he recklessly charged at him.

Marco was fast enough to block the magma punch that was heading in his crew mate's way. After confirming that the person and the ship were undamaged, he reprimanded the person for not thinking but he gave a gentle smile at his intentions. Marco then focused his glare at the new intruder, waiting for his Captain's orders.

"Since it seems you guys don't understand what you're protecting..." Akainu took a deep sigh before he smirked in Ace's direction, causing the latter to freeze up. Everyone resisted the urge to smack him when they saw where his gaze was leading to.

"Portgas D. Ace. Or should I say Gol. D Ace? The son of the Pirate King." Akainu smirked at everyone's reaction. 'I guess they really didn't know.' he thought.

"Monkey D. Luffy. Son of the Revolutionary Dragon. The most wanted criminal in the world." Akainu continued. "They need to be _eliminated_." Akainu turned his whole right arm into magma. "Whether you like it or not."

"ATTACK!"

* * *

 **WARNING ABOUT NEXT CHAPTER : I REALLY REALLY SUCK AT WRITING FIGHTING SCENES**


	8. Result

**Chapter 8 : Result**

 _"Portgas D. Ace. Or should I say Gol. D Ace? The son of the Pirate King." Akainu smirked at everyone's reaction. 'I guess they really didn't know.' he thought._

 _"Monkey D. Luffy. Son of the Revolutionary Dragon. The most wanted criminal in the world." Akainu continued. "They need to be eliminated." Akainu turned his whole right arm into magma. "Whether you like it or not."_

 _"ATTACK!"_

* * *

"EHHHHH!?" was everyone's reaction at this revelation.

Marco was the first person to recover from the shock when he realized they were currently under attack right now.

"OI! Pay attention to the fight!" Marco shouted as he kicked a Marine away from Blenheim.

This snapped everyone out of their daze and the fight broke out. The Marines were heavily outnumbered. Whitebeard had at least a thousand men under his command while Akainu brought only the top 300 officers. Whitebeard had ordered that only the commanders and himself can engage in the fight. He told all of his sons to stay inside the cabins and surround the brats incase of a sneak attack on them.

* * *

Ace just stared at the man that revealed his and Luffy's heritage and he gripped the edge of the window.

"What? I have a father?" Luffy asked. He looked at Ace, but Ace wasn't answering him. Ace just stared at him with shock. Or was that fear? He couldn't tell.

Thatch stared at the pair with sad eyes. He knew Ace was aware of the danger they were in, but Luffy was obviously clueless. He would need to explain this to them later.

"Let's talk about this later with Oyaji." Thatch decided. Ace looked at him nervously and started fidgeting from where he was sitting. Luffy didn't notice but Thatch certainly did.

"Do you hate me now?" Ace asked in a whisper. He was still looking down, refusing to make eye contact with his friend.

Thatch smiled and nudged Ace in the ribs lightly to make him look up. When he did, he could see the desperation in his eyes. It made him want to kill whoever made Ace feel this way.

"Of course not kid, you're still the annoying brat you'll always be." Thatch ruffled Ace's hair for the first time, and this time, he didn't protest. "But we definitely need to have a serious talk later. It seems Luffy doesn't have a clue what we are talking about and that's a problem."

Ace and Thatch glanced at Luffy who was too busy focusing on the battle outside to listen.

* * *

It didn't take long for Akainu to be the last Marine standing. All of the commanders were standing unscathed in front of their father, while Whitebeard stood at his full length.

Whitebeard and Akainu had agreed to fight on land because they didn't want their ships to get in the way. There was no one on Dawn Island except for the two. An evacutation ship for the Nobles were sent a couple days ago, although some were reluctant and refused to part with their unportable belongings. It took a long time, but they all finally left.

Whitebeard threw back his fist and using his devil fruit ability, squashed him into the ground with his left foot. Before Akainu could get back up, Whitebeard punched him again, the force making him skid away from him.

Akainu slowly stood up and glared at the man. He knew he was outmatched but he couldn't let those two kids live. He knew they would grow up and be a danger to the world.

"Why are you protecting them Whitebeard?" Akainu yelled. "I need to eliminate them before-"

He was cut off when Whitebeard used his bisento to slice him, but Akainu jumped in the air on time. Whitebeard was always mad when someone threatened his children but this time, it was different. He was even _more_ angry than usual. It might be because the brats are only kids or because he felt nostalgic of his times with his former rival. He didn't know what. All he did know was that he was going to KILL this man incase he goes after Ace and Luffy again.

Akainu switched to the offensive and started running towards him with his arms turning into magma. Whitebeard threw a fist into the air and the air 'cracked' causing Akainu to get thrown back yet again. He grabbed the Marine by his collar and did a head-butt which made Akainu almost lose consciousness. Whitebeard raised his bisento and sliced the man across the chest, killing him.

Whitebeard threw the dead man behind his shoulder where Marco was watching the fight.

"What do we do with him Oyaji?" Marco looked down on the disheveled man and back at his father.

"Throw him into the ocean."

Marco picked up the man with ease and threw him to the ocean, where he sank like a hammer.

"I have a feeling Garp might come here after hearing a Buster Call on his home island." Marco sighed.

"Let's set sail immediately before that happens." Whitebeard said.

* * *

By the time Whitebeard and Marco came back to the ship, all of the Marines were gone and the pirates were waiting for their father to come back. They knew that their father could beat any Admiral no problem, he wasn't known as the strongest man for nothing, but lately his health was deteriorating from his old age, so they were worried.

"Where are the brats?" Whitebeard walked to his chair and took a seat with Marco standing next to him.

"Thatch is bringing them out right now," Izo answered as everyone glanced where Thatch's room is.

The door opened and Thatch came out with a nervous Ace and an excited Luffy. They stood in front of their father.

"You guys were so awesome!" Luffy exclaimed.

The deck were filled with chuckles from the crew. Some were even blushing at the compliment.

Ace was still looking down, without his usual cocky smile on his face. Whitebeard cleared his throat to get everyone to be quiet.

"Do both of you know who your father is?" Whitebeard stared at his sons while holding a huge bottle of sake.

"I don't know. Is my father really a dragon? Can he fly like Marco!?" Luffy was jumping up and down at the thought of flying with his father he knew nothing about.

"No. Not that type of dragon -yoi."

Luffy scrunched his face up in disgust. "You mean those ugly dragons. I don't like my father."

Marco had to supress a laughter from coming out. "Not Celestial Dragons either. His _name_ is Dragon."

Some of the crew started laughing at Luffy's 'I don't like my father' statement after thinking he was one of _them._

"The Revolutionary Army is a force that is purposely opposing the governement unlike pirates -yoi. Your father is the leader so that's why he's considered 'dangerous' by the government." Marco explained.

"Ahhh. So it's a mystery force." Luffy slammed his fist into his palm in realization. Marco face-planted on the floor before standing up and sighing at the boy.

Whitebeard noticed Ace was being really quiet. He hasn't hit or scolded Luffy yet in the past minute. A new record.

"Since now we know why the government wants you, we need to be more cautious in case something like this happens again." Whitebeard chugged a whole bottle before throwing it and reaching for another one.

"Do you hate me now that you know I am your old rival's son?" Ace stared at the man with sad yet hopeful eyes.

"It doesn't matter who your parents were. Like I said, everyone is a child of the sea. You'll still be my son even if you're the devil itself." Whitebeard took a swig of alcohol looking at Ace's reaction in the corner of his eye.

Ace was near tears while Luffy was looking appreciatively towards him for saying that to his brother.

"Let's celebrate!" someone shouted.

"Gurarara. Alright!"

The party started a few minutes later. People were arm wrestling, eating, drinking, dancing, singing, or watching other people make a fool of themselves.

Thatch was hitting on a nurse in a semi-drunken state. Luffy was singing Bink's Sake along with others while dancing merrily and Ace was leaning on the railing, staring at the night time view with a peaceful smile on his face. He finally felt like he had a home.

* * *

It's been a while since the Whitebeard Pirates left East Blue and entered the Grand Line. Whitebeard had stopped at Odayakana to get their ship back and for Ace and Luffy to say their goodbyes to the residents of Dawn Island. Ace and Luffy reassured Makino and Dadan and her bandits that they would meet again when they become well-known pirates, or in Luffy's case, Pirate King. During this time, a certain Marine visited Dawn Island.

Garp stared at what used to be Dawn Island. The coast was filled with burnt marks and some of the trees were knocked down. He concluded that Akainu fought someone on this coast but according to HQ, he hasn't returned. Strange.

He walked around the whole island and saw that everyone was gone. Even the nobles. There were no dead rotting bodies and nothing was burned down. It looked like nothing had happen.

Garp smiled. 'Looks like they escaped on time.' "BWAHAHA! I was worried for nothing."

Garp went to the mountains and saw that Dadan's shack was abandoned with no belongings inside. 'Good. Good.' He was about to leave when he saw a note sticking out of a picture frame.

"Hm?" Garp walked to the picture frame and pulled out the note. He started reading it and when he was done, he crumpled it out of anger and stuffed it in his pocket. He stormed out of the shack and ordered his men to prepare to set sail for the Grand Line.

* * *

 _Buster Call. Run away to another island. Whitebeard save us. Brats on Whitebeard Ship. Not my fault._

 _P.S. I'm not gonna tell you what island we're hiding on._

 _-Dadan_

* * *

Monkey D. Dragon was looking at his plans to overthrow the monarchy in Drum Island when his subordinate came in with the daily newspaper. He skimmed through it. Mostly about the government being great blah blah until one headline caught his attention and his breath.

" _Son of Pirate King Gol D. Roger and Son of the Revolutionary Dragon Both Killed Under Unknown Circumstances on Dawn Island"_

Dragon unknowingly shed a tear, much to his subordinates' surprise. He felt so furious. The reason why he left Luffy in the care of his father was so that something like this wouldn't happen. He knew the 'Unknown Circumstances' meant the government was trying to kill them. He continued reading for more info on their deaths but all it talked about was random crap. The only useful or interesting thing he found was that apparently the two boys considered each other as brothers. Therefore, the rest of the article called them 'The Demon Brothers.'

The next few days, Dragon was a lot more gloomy than usual. He felt so terrible with himself for leaving Luffy in the care of his father. It was pretty obvious his father was a loud mouth but he thought he was smart enough to not let that info slip to people he did not trust, but he was wrong.

On the sixth day, he received a letter from the News Coo that was sent from his father. Maybe he's still alive?! He hastily opened it and gave a hearty laugh when his father explained what had happened.

"Pirate huh? You better raise hell for them when you get older."

* * *

Everyone was in the dining hall eating their breakfast. They got over the shock of the identities of the boys' fathers and saw them as the annoying brats they first met a while ago.

Marco came intro the galley with a smile on his face as he sat next to Luffy and across from Ace. He took out two papers from his pocket and placed them in front of them with a smirk.

The two boys gazed down on the paper in front of them and their eyes widened in shock.

"WE HAVE BOUNTIES NOW?!" Luffy squealed in happiness, forgetting his food.

Ace smirked in approval. He was a little disappointed at the amount though. Somehow, the Marines managed to get their photos taken, not that he was complaining though. He actually looked pretty cool while Luffy looked like a complete dork.

By now, everyone ran up to their table to check out the bounties. There were a lot of cheers and sighs from the jealous members. After the commotion died down, everyone resumed to their meal and conversations.

Whitebeard smiled proudly at his two new youngest sons that were smiling so much, it hurt to look. Although they didn't earn it from battle, it's still pretty exciting for young kids like them. He had expected them to be sad that they were going to be hunted down, but to his surprise, they were thrilled.

On Ace's poster, he was glaring at something on the right with his arms crossed defiantly.

On Luffy's poster, he was smiling at the photographer with a big smile that cause his eyes to close. He also did a peace sign with his signature straw hat on his head.

 _Portgas D. Ace_

 _-60,000,000 belis_

 _Monkey D. Luffy_

 _-50,000,000 belis_

* * *

 **I just had to kill Akainu haha oops. I realized that I haven't used -yoi for Marco in like the last 5 chapters so I'm bringing it back lol. Ace has a higher bounty because the 'Pirate King's son is more of a threat.'**

 **To the person that pointed out that Shanks is not a Yonkou yet, well this is** _ **my**_ **story so I'm changing some stuff up. In this, he is.**


	9. Reactions, Pranks, And Devil Fruits

**Chapter 9 : Reactions, Pranks, and Devil Fruits**

 _Portgas D. Ace_

 _-60,000,000 belis_

 _Monkey D. Luffy_

 _-50,000,000 belis_

* * *

The Red Force docked at Kame Island the previous night and now the Red-Haired Pirates were currently 'resting' there from the party they had last night. Everyone was hung-over except for a man named Benn Beckman.

"Captain." Benn kicked Shanks in the head to wake him up.

"Whaaaaaat." Shanks whined while grabbing his head. Benn threw the newspaper onto his Captain's face.

Shanks slowly got up into a sitting position and took the newspaper and started reading. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" His eyes bulged out as he continued reading. He couldn't believe what he was reading. He had _so_ much hope that Luffy was going to be big someday. Then his eyes widen even more at the news of a kid that was supposedly his old Captain's son.

"Look at this though." Benn said. He handed Shanks two pieces of paper.

"Bounties?"

"Yeah. Why would they have bounties that say 'Dead or Alive' if they are 'dead?' I think the Marines gave them the bounties but someone else is bribing the reporters to say they are dead. Unless they really thought they were dead but it turns out they were alive." Benn pondered deeply before lighting up his new cigarette.

"Could be. Well, as long as Anchor is alright then it's all good." Shanks smiled while remembering the year he spent at Fuusha Village. "Hey...do you think the part about their fathers' is true? I never would of guess that Luffy's father was Dragon or that Captain Roger had a son..."

"It has to be true. They have no benefits from revealing their heritage otherwise." This was the only logical reason Benn could come up with.

One by one, the pirates started waking up from their hang-over while Benn showed them the newspaper. Most of them freaked out at first because they had grown attached to the little boy the past year, but later calmed down after listening to the first mate's reasoning. They didn't doubt his theory, after all, he didn't have the highest IQ in East Blue for nothing.

* * *

Sabo was wandering around the huge building that he had been spending his past months in. After he was treated from the Celestial Dragon incident by a man with a huge purple afro, he tried to escape to get back into Dawn Island, but a man who's name was apparently Dragon would always stop him. Sabo recognized the man from the night of the Grey Terminal fire. Dragon had said that he was allowed to leave once his wounds healed, which won't be for a long time. As time passed, they got closer to each other and Sabo even started refering to Dragon as 'Dragon-san.'

Sabo stumbled upon a balcony that overlooked a rocky ground. He saw Dragon staring into the distance with the wind blowing strongly and Iva watching his leader carefully.

"Dragon-san. I want to accept your offer to join the Revolutionary Army." Sabo declared while thinking back to when Dragon had asked him earlier.

* * *

 _Sabo was resting in his hospital bed when Dragon came in._

 _"Can I please go back Dragon-san? I need to make sure my brothers are safe and I'm pretty sure if Ace somehow hears about this, he will attack the World Nobles and that'll be really really bad." Sabo looked at Dragon with pleading eyes._

 _Dragon chuckled deeply. "If they're anything like you, they will be fine. And you may not leave until you are fully healed."_

 _Sabo grunted and sighed in defeat._

 _"What is your dream kid?" Dragon looked at him curiously. The boy was a lot different from the Nobles his age._

 _"To be free." Sabo smiled._

 _"How would you like to join the Revolutionary Army and make your dream come true?"_

* * *

Dragon and Iva smiled at his decision and looked back to the sky.

"Vhat are vyour two brothers like?" Iva asked.

Sabo beamed at this question. "They're names are Ace and Luffy. Ace and me are around the same age but we don't know who's older. Luffy is three years younger than us. Ace can be really grouchy and Luffy is always energetic."

Sabo grinned remembering all the fun times they had in the past year. He was sad he wouldn't see them for a while, but they will one day meet, as a great pirate and a revolutionary.

"Luffy?" Dragon stared wide-eyed. "Monkey D. Luffy?"

"Yeah." Sabo said warily.

"Isn't that the vboy from the newspaper?" Iva asked.

"Newspaper?"

"Vwait a minute. Vi will get it." Iva left and came back with a newspaper in his hand. He handed it to Sabo.

"EHHHH?! There's no way they died! They're too strong for this to happen..." Sabo was close to crying at the thought of losing his two brothers.

"They're alive." Sabo looked up to Dragon with tears in his eyes. "Look at the bounties in the next page."

Sabo flipped the next page and a bunch of bounties fluttered out. Sabo hastily looked through them until he finally saw his brothers' picture. He laughed happily at finally seeing his brothers again, even though it's through paper.

"Vi don't understand why they say they died but still gave them bounties." Iva shook his head and sighed.

"They're alive and on Whitebeard's ship." Dragon informed.

"Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world?! Wait, they became pirates before me!" Sabo huffed playfully. He looked at the newspaper carefully and reread the headline and his eyes bugged out.

"Wait! Luffy is your son?!" Sabo exclaimed.

"Yeah, I left him with my father to take care of him." Dragon said nonchantly.

"You mean Garp? That old bastard is crazy! He broke my right arm three times through his 'training' just because I said I wanted to become a pirate!" Sabo shuddered at remembering his training sessions with Ace and Luffy's grandfather.

Dragon let out a loud laugh. "I had it worse."

Sabo spent the whole day telling excitedly about the adventures he had with his two brothers to Dragon and Iva.

* * *

Garp was cooling off on the deck of his Marine ship while eating rice crackers when a News Coo flew in. He pulled out a gold coin from the front of his pocket and threw it at the bird. In return, the bird dropped off a newspaper and flew off.

Garp wasn't much of a reader, well actually he never reads at all, but he needed all the info he could get on Whitebeard's movement. Most likely, he's heading into the New World to check on his territories. Garp honestly didn't know what to do when he finally confronts Whitebeard. Honestly, he should thank the man for saving his grandsons but he would never stoop so low to thank a _pirate_ but...this was different. He saved his _family_ and family was more important than duty to him.

Garp read the newspaper heading and couldn't help the laughter coming from his throat.

"Dead huh? BWAHAHA!"

As he flipped to the next page, a bunch of papers flew out. He got up to pick the bounty posters that fell when he stumbled upon on two that held faces that were familiar to him.

His eyes twitched in frustration as he felt a sudden urge to kill a certain magma-bastard. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his Den Den Mushi.

It took a while for the other person to answer. "What is it Garp?" the other person said in an exasperated tone.

"Sengoku! Cancel the bounties! How could you put a price on the heads of my adorable grandsons?!"

Sengoku let out a deep sigh. He knew this was going to come sooner or later. "It's not in my control Garp. It's higher up." Sengoku had tried to talked to Kong about it but even he said it was above his power. This was the Gorosei's idea. To eliminate the potential threats that could grow bigger in the future.

Garp hung the Den Den Mushi up out of irritation and continued snacking on his crackers angrily.

* * *

The villagers were adjusting to their new life in Odayakana Island when a News Coo flew in. Dadan had informed everyone that the Buster Call was for Ace and Luffy and that was why they weren't with them right now. Obviously, Dadan left out _why_ the government wanted the two boys to protect them.

The Mayor grabbed the newspaper and read it out loud to the villagers that started gathering around in a circle. Some of the villagers were shocked about the news of the boys' father but then they bursted in tears hearing of Luffy's potential death. Dadan and Makino reassured them that they were alive and safe from harm.

Later that day, another News Coo came in, but instead of a newspaper, it was a letter, adressed to Dadan.

Dadan opened it and she yelled in shock.

"HOW DID GARP-SAN FIND OUT WHERE WE WERE HIDING!?"

* * *

On the _Moby Dick_ everyone went to sleep early so that they would be well-rested for tomorrow's adventure. One of the navigators said that the next island was a summer one. Ace and Luffy were sleeping in the Second Division Commander's room because it was the only empty room they had. Whitebeard had decided against letting the two boys bunk with the others given their age. The room was small and cramped, but also comfortable. There was a bed that was big enough for one grown person, a wooden table with a lamp, and a small closet that was currently empty. The boys didn't have any clothes besides the ones that were on their backs. Makino was the one that would bring them new clothes when theirs get too raggedy, but she wasn't here now.

It was late when Thatch bursted into the boy's room wearing a big grin.

"Ughhhh." the two boys groaned at the noise that woke them up.

"Rise and shine boys!" Thatch leaned against the door patiently, waiting for the boys to get up. He got tired of waiting so he walked to the bed only to notice that they had fallen back to sleep.

"Fine. If you don't get up soon, all the food will be gone."

In a flash, the two boys got up and ran to the galley. "Huh. I should use this again next time." Thatch walked to the galley and saw two _very_ angry children in there.

"Liar!" Luffy pointed his finger accusingly at Thatch. "There's no food here."

"What time is it _even_?" Ace asked.

"Mmm. 4AM?" Thatch guessed. He was tackled to the ground by two small boys.

"You woke us up at 4AM?!" Ace yelled.

Thatch laughed and pulled the two boys off of him. "How would you guys like to prank Marco?"

"Prank?" Luffy questioned.

"Yup. He seems really stressed off lately from all the paperwork so I thought I'd give him more stress." Thatch smirked evilly while outstretching his hand.

"Hmmmm. Okay we're in." Ace shook his hand. "So what's the plan?"

* * *

"THATCH, BRATS, GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE!" Marco yelled while running onto the deck. His hair was dyed green and his entire body was dyed a nice orange.

The pirates on deck quickly backed away from the First Division Commander. Some of them learned the hard way that you do _not_ want to talk to a pissed off Marco.

Thatch, Ace, and Luffy were hiding behind some barrels while listening to a very angry Phoenix. Thatch knew Marco could sense where they were hiding, but it was still fun pretending he couldn't.

Marco walked across the deck to the barrels that were neatly stacked...until now. Marco kicked the barrels, causing all of them to break, revealing the pranksters. Before he could even give them a good ass-kicking, Thatch and Ace pointed to a clueless Luffy.

"He did it."

"Ehhh?!" Luffy was wide-eyed at their sudden betrayal.

Earlier when Luffy wasn't listening, Ace and Thatch agreed to put all the blame on Luffy if Marco found out.

Marco shifted his glare from Thatch to Luffy.

"It was Thatch's idea!" Luffy exclaimed.

Marco payed no attention and started cracking his knuckles, grinning creepily at them.

"Run?" Ace asked.

"Run." Thatch and Luffy confirmed.

The trio were running around the ship yelling loudly with a pineapple hot on their tails.

Whitebeard watched in amusement at the little display his sons had put out.

After five minutes, the three came back with many bumps on their heads followed by a very satisfied Marco.

"It's washable..." Thatch mumbled.

"It h-hurtssss." Luffy whined.

"Hmmmph." Ace huffed. He would never show he was in pain in front of people, especially in front of his little brother.

"Never do this again! Understand -yoi?!"

The three nodded, even though they didn't really mean it. For Thatch, it was always fun to mess with his friend like this. Marco really needed to loosen up sometimes.

* * *

The next island was finally in view and Luffy was jumping everywhere in anticipation.

"What's the island called?" Curiel asked.

"Midoriiro. The whole island is basically a jungle, but it's really hot in there." Izo informed. He wasn't planning on leaving the ship any time soon. The heat would mess up his makeup that he spent over an hour applying.

Ace was really excited to finally get on land and hunt. The past islands they were in weren't suitable for hunting.

Before the ship even touched the land, Luffy slingshot Ace and himself deep into the forest.

Whitebeard wasn't really concerned for the brats. They grew up in a place like this after all. They could take care of themselves.

* * *

Ace and Luffy were walking while dragging the third bear they had killed. The bears weren't as big as the ones back home, but it still had a lot of meat.

Luffy noticed something on the top of a huge tree and dropped his bear and started climbing.

"Oi what are you doing?" Ace yelled.

"I see something shiny."

Ace squinted at the top of the tree. He didn't see anything but then again, he wasn't going to complain. Luffy once found a gold bracelet on the top of a tree once. Hopefully, this time it's a diamond.

After a few minutes, Luffy jumped down the tree easily with a fruit in his hand.

Ace smacked him on the head. "That's not treasure, you idiot!"

"It's a devil fruit."

This caught Ace's attention immediately. "Really? How do you know?"

"It's all swirly and cool-looking." Luffy looked at Ace like he was stupid.

"Stop looking at me like that! How am I suppose to know what a devil fruit looks like?!" Ace was about to punched him but stopped at Luffy's question.

"Are you going to eat it? You should eat it. That way I can call your power stupid." Luffy stuck out his tongue at Ace.

Ace resisted his urge to punch his brother. "You eat it. You found it anyway." Ace looked away with a glare.

"I can't. Shanks told me something bad would happen if I did. I forgot what though." Luffy turned red from trying to recall what his friend had said to him. He gave up later and concluded it as 'something bad would happen.'

Ace really wanted to eat one but then who would save his idiot little brother from drowning? As if reading his thoughts, Luffy said that there were plenty of others on the ship who didn't eat a mystery fruit yet.

With one more glance at his brother, Ace ate the whole thing in one bite and was really close to spitting it out. He finally managed to swallow the whole thing without throwing it back up up.

"Blegh. That was horrible!" Ace exclaimed.

"Oh yeah! They taste really bad. You should have water with you when you eat it." Luffy realized.

"You say that now?!"

"So Ace, what power did you get?" Luffy looked at his older brother with stars in his eyes.

"I don't know, but my body feels all tingly and weird." Ace patted down his body, trying to figure out what fruit he ate when all of the sudden, his hair turned into fire.

"AHHH MY HAIR! IT'S BURNING, IT'S BURNING-wait huh? Why doesn't it hurt?" Ace's hair slowly burned out and disappeared. Ace ran his fingers through his hair and noticed it wasn't burned or hot anymore.

"WOW! You're fire Ace!" Luffy crept closer to Ace when suddenly, his whole right arm bursted into flames, causing Luffy to jump back.

"Sorry Luffy! Man, this is hard to control." Ace breathed. He was so excited about his new power. Fire, I mean, how cool is that?! He could burn anything and something like the fire in the Grey Terminal will never scare Luffy again now that Ace could control fire.

Ace and Luffy headed back to the ship where he was greeted by a smiling Marco and Thatch.

"What have you brats been up to?"

"Oh nothing. I ate a Devil Fruit and I can control fire now. The usual." Ace walked past a pair of shocked commanders nonchalantly.

"Wait, you ate a Devil Fruit?!" Thatch exclaimed catching everybody's attention.

"Yeah." Ace started digging his nose and flung his booger at his closest victim-Luffy.

"Eww! That's disgusting Ace!" Luffy started rubbing his face with a grossed-out expression.

"You say you're fire now?" Whitebeard asked. Ace nodded in his direction. "It must be the Mera Mera No Mi then. That's the only fire fruit I'm aware of." Whitebeard continued. "Since you're not in control of your Devil Fruit Power, Marco will teach you how to control and turn into fire willingly."

"Okay Oyaji. Training starts tomorrow brat." Marco walked away, into the direction of his room.

"Also, since both of you are Devil Fruit Users, don't play near the ocean without a non-devil fruit user with you."

"Okay." the two boys said to their father before going to the galley to demand food.

* * *

Ace and Luffy were sitting on the railing, trying to catch some fish when Marco shouted that a Marine ship was approaching.

The first division sat up and got ready for battle since it was their turn to fight.

Marco flew down and said to his division that they didn't need to fight.

"It's okay -yoi. It's just Garp."

Ace and Luffy snapped their neck to the left so hard they could of broke their neck. The same thought rang into their heads loud and clear.

'GRANDPA!?'

* * *

 **Dun Dun Dun Garp is here!**


	10. GRANDPA! Training-

**Chapter 10: Grandpa! Training-**

 _"It's okay -yoi. It's just Garp."_

 _Ace and Luffy snapped their neck to the left so hard they could of broke their neck. The same thought rang into their heads loud and clear._

 _'GRANDPA!?'_

* * *

Ace and Luffy quickly dropped their fishing poles and stared in horror at the approaching Marine ship. They remained frozen for some time, but Ace instantly broke out of his trance and realized the danger they were in.

"We have to hide!" Ace yelled. He grabbed Luffy by his arm and they both ran in a random direction, but were stopped by Marco.

"What are you doing -yoi?" Marco raised an eyebrow at them. "Garp sometimes drink with Oyaji," Marco noticed the panicked look on their faces which puzzled him. They dealt with Marines all the time so why are they scared now? "He's not going to hurt you."

"Yeah right." Ace and Luffy said at the same time.

"If you're really scared, the safest place is with Oyaji." Marco said with a smirk.

"We're not scared!" Ace blushed in embarrassment.

"Then why are you hiding -yoi?"

"Because we're scared." Luffy admitted.

Marco laughed at his honesty while Ace punched him for saying something weak.

"Let's go." Ace led Luffy back onto the deck where the ship was getting closer and closer. They both grew anxious and sat next to Whitebeard to calm themselves down. They were clamming up as they watched the ocean quietly.

Whitebeard was a little surprised that his youngest sons were so scared of Garp. Maybe they met him before and the man traumatized them? That certainly wouldn't be the first time the old coot scared children.

When both ships were finally close enough, a man with a dog mask jumped onto the deck of the _Moby Dick._ He continued walking briskly across the deck until he was finally in front of the man he had been searching for many months. He then stared at the two small boys that were sitting next to Whitebeard for a long time.

Some of the crew members were getting uncomfortable at the glare Garp was giving to their new family members. Some grew protective thinking that Garp came to turn them into the government. Marco broke Garp's attention to the two boys with a question.

"What are you doing here -yoi?" Marco asked in his normal bored tone.

Garp let out a sigh and turned his direction from Marco to Whitebeard. "Thank you for saving the brats," Garp said awkwardly. "But I'm taking them back." he said firmly.

"What do you mean you're taking them back?!" Thatch exclaimed. "They're only kids!"

"Exactly. Kids don't belong on a pirate ship. Turning them into Marines won't work either. I need to hide them somewhere safe and it's not gonna be on a pirate ship!" Garp looked back at the kids with sad eyes.

Marco was about to ask why the old Marine was even caring about the safety of the two brats when the youngest spoke up.

"No way Grandpa! I wanna stay here!" Luffy shouted while standing up.

Ace followed Luffy. "Yeah me too!"

"GRANDPA?!" everyone shouted. "First there was Roger and Dragon, but now Garp too?! What's up with this crazy family?!" someone shouted. Everyone else nodded numbly in agreement.

Garp paid no attention to their shock and was focusing on his grandsons.

"EHH?! You want another Fist of Love?!" Garp started blowing on his fist with an evil grin. Luffy shivered under his gaze while Ace stood firm, standing protectively in front of his little brother.

"We're staying here Gramps. You can't make us go!"

Garp punched Ace hard in the head causing the latter to fall on the ground.

"Shitty gramps," Ace muttered while slowly standing back up.

"ACE!" Luffy ran to his brother's side and glared at his grandpa. "Meanie Grandpa!"

"Don't talk to your Grandpa like that!" Garp was about to hit Luffy but was stopped by an angry Phoenix.

"Stop hitting them -yoi." Marco threatened.

"Don't tell me what to do Phoenix!" Garp shouted.

Whitebeard was watching the scene in amusement and anger. He was amused because he finally figured out what got his two brats so scared. It was especially surprising to see Ace scared for once since he's never scared of anything. He didn't even flinch under his glare when they first met! He was angry though because of Garp's abusiveness towards his grandsons. They were only kids after all.

"Garp, that's enough," Whitebeard interrupted, preventing a shouting match from happening between his first mate and the Marine hero. "Let's have a drink and discuss this rationally." Whitebeard stood up, gesturing to his quarters.

"Take the boys into the galley while we discuss," he ordered to his commanders. "Everyone else can resume what they were doing earlier."

* * *

Ace and Luffy nervously sat down on the closest table and began inhaling large amounts of food. The commanders have grown accustomed to their disgusting eating habits, but it seemed this time, they were going even faster. Probably from Garp's presence, most of them thought.

The commanders were also eating their meals, but a lot neater and slower compared to the brothers. It was all nice and quiet until a certain rubber hand started 'exploring' and grabbing other people's food.

"HEY!" Haruta complained after witnessing her steak disappearing.

The other commanders started shouting in protest until it became funny and a fun game started called 'who-can-catch-luffy-before-he-steals-with-a-fork.' Thatch, on the other hand, decided to have a little more fun and pulled out a packet of really spicy hot sauce. He poured it all over his meat, which he learned from Day 1 that it was Luffy's most favorite thing in the world. He waited for a rubber hand to grab it and when it did happen, he bursted out laughing from the sight. As soon as Luffy had swallowed the piece of meat, he turned a bright red and fire was literally coming out of his mouth.

After that little episode, everyone was on the ground laughing their asses off, even Ace.

By the time they were done, all the dishes were cleared and were stacked messily in the sink. The whole table was silent with awkwardness. There was nothing to do in the galley besides eating, which they have already done. All of them were too full to move, except for the D brothers and a regenerative Phoenix.

Marco sensed Ace's and Luffy's uneasiness and addressed it. "Don't worry -yoi. We won't let your Grandpa take you away."

They both flashed a genuine smile and the silence continued.

Thatch went into the kitchen briefly and came back with a deck of cards in his hands.

"Do you brats know how to play poker?"

* * *

Garp had his arms crossed and glared at Whitebeard defiantly.

Whitebeard knew Ace and Garp were not blood related, but he could see the resemblances between the two. Both had a stubborn air to them. 'Luffy must of inherited Garp's recklessness.' he mused.

"I need to take them back," Garp continued. "It's bad enough they have bounties. If they stay with you, it will only increase! I have to hide them."

"Hide them where exactly? They're not safe anywhere; Everyone is hunting them! Marines, bounty hunters, and possibly civilians to get some money!"

"That's why I'm planning on hiding them on an inhabited island! That way no one can find them while they get stronger and stronger!"

Whitebeard was getting really really frustrated. "Garp," he said calmly. "They're only kids. _Kids_. And you would leave them by themselves there?! They need to be with people that can protect them."

Garp was getting frustrated because he knew Whitebeard was right. At least if the kids stay with his crew, he knew they would be safe. Whitebeard had always considered his crew as his family. However, if he left them on an island with no communication...well, he couldn't guarantee their safety.

"Garp. Sometimes, you have to forget about your pride and realize what is best."

Garp looked at Whitebeard dejectedly.

"I'm not stealing them from you. You can always visit them." Whitebeard looked at Garp directly. He honestly felt bad for the poor man. Asking help from a pirate was dishonorable for a Marine but hey, it's not like they don't know each other. Their respect for each other was always mutual. "We both benefit from this. I get to keep them with me and you will always know they're safe. Let's be honest. You always knew they would become pirates anyway. Why not under my symbol?"

Garp looked at the man, stunned, but threw his head back and laughed. "I guess you're right. But if I ever hear news about them getting caught and sent to Impel Down or something, I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Gurarara. Deal."

The two stared down at their untouched drinks and started chugging it down. It was an hour when their drinking was halted. Both were getting close to getting a buzz when Garp's Den Den Mushi rang. He had to head back to Marine HQ as soon as possible.

Garp gave a loud sigh and stood up. "See you later, pirate." Garp said with a slight fondness at the last word. He was halfway out the door when a thought occured. "Do you know what happened to Akainu?"

"Killed him." Whitebeard said nonchalantly.

"As I thought..." Garp said with a smirk. "But I'm a bit angry I didn't get to do that myself."

Whitebeard smirked in return and with that, the Marine hero left.

Garp walked onto the deck and turned around. "ACE, LUFFY, GET READY FOR TRAINING THE NEXT TIME I'M HERE!" He started walking into the direction of his ship when he heard footsteps coming.

"Grandpa!" a childish voice called.

Garp turned around at the sound of his grandson's voice. He saw both of them standing there with a smile.

"I love you," Luffy continued. "But I'll still become Pirate King!"

"Shut up you brat." Garp said but instead of his usual frown, he said it with a smile.

"See you later Gramps." Ace said simply.

Garp smiled in response and jumped onto his ship.

"Your grandpa sure is a crazy man huh?" someone said.

Ace looked at the person that said that. "You have no idea."

* * *

"Time to start your training -yoi." Marco said to Ace.

"Alright," Ace started cracking his knuckles. "Let's get started already."

"We're not going to fight hand-to-hand combat. We need to train your Devil Fruit power. You almost burned the ship five times -yoi!" Marco accused.

Ace scratched his head sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Can you turn your right arm into fire?"

Ace was grunting, trying to make his arm burst into flames, but failing. Then he thought about the time when Luffy made him mad by pointing out his flushed face in front of Makino. Naturally, his arm turned into fire and he grinned.

"You made yourself angry huh?"

"Yeah."

"At least you can do that," Marco said thoughtfully. "But in battle, you need to be quicker. Keep your arm on fire while I get food."

"WAIT WHAT! I thought you were gonna train me!" Ace shouted.

"This is part of your training, Ace. Try to hold onto your position for as long as you can. It helps you turn into fire willingly." Marco continued his walk but was stopped by Ace yet again.

"Could you...bring me food too?" Ace asked desperately. He hasn't eaten for two whole hours and his stomach kept protesting.

"Sure."

* * *

Luffy was training with three commanders. Izo was helping him on his aiming, Kingdew was helping him in combat, and Vista was helping in swordsmanship. Luffy admitted he needed help with aiming and combat, but he insisted he didn't need to learn how to use a sword. Vista had to convince him that it was a necessity for a Pirate King to be able to at least wield a sword. Once 'Pirate King' was mentioned, Luffy's eyes sparkled and he agreed excitedly. He liked the idea of getting stronger so that he could protect anything and beat Ace.

"Aim for this." Izo had put up a bunch of targets for Luffy to break.

"Okay. Here I go."

Out of ten targets, he managed to hit six of them. Luffy was disappointed, but Izo pointed out that he was improving and getting stronger which made the little boy cheer up.

Luffy's battles with the Eleventh Division Commander never lasted long. The winnings were one-sided. Luffy was resting with Kingdew, resting until Vista finished his paperwork.

"You have great dodging skills."

"Thanks to the monkeys." Luffy said gratefully.

"Monkeys?"

"Grandpa made me fight them!" Luffy pouted.

"You must have a bad childhood...although you're still a child now." Kingdew muttered pensively.

"What's that?" Luffy was too busy playing with a beetle to notice the commander was talking.

"Nothing. Vista's here."

Luffy grinned mischievously while picking up a sword. The sword was red and was smaller than a regular sword. It was perfect for Luffy. He had excellent swordsmanship for a kid his age due to his experience with a pipe, but that wasn't enough for Vista. He wanted to make the brat become really strong so that he could protect himself in the future. He wouldn't have his older brother with him when he becomes a pirate captain himself in the future so his training was more essential than Ace's. He wanted to prepare the boy properly for the Grand Line. He wasn't planning on letting Luffy leave until he was on commander's level at _least_.

Vista was barely using any power with his spar with Luffy. Vista had to admit the boy was progressing a lot faster than expected.

An hour later, Luffy started panting and collapsed on the ground. "Food..." he muttered.

Vista twirled his moustache as he laughed. "Izo will work on your stamina later with extra running."

Luffy looked up at him, not saying a single word.

Vista stared and nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, you can go eat."

Luffy ran as fast as his sore legs could carry him. When he entered the galley, he saw Ace stuffing his face while Marco watched in amusement.

"Hi Ace. Hi Marco." Luffy said cheerfully.

"Hey," Ace said.

Marco smiled. "How's your training coming -yoi?"

"Good," he said with a mouth filled with food. "I'm getting stronger." He swallowed all the food and faced his brother. "Soon, I will become stronger than you, Ace."

"Yeah right." Ace snorted.

Namur came into the galley and sat down at the same table as the kids and Marco which was surprising to the First Division Commander. Namur would usually avoid the brats for some unknown reason, but Luffy would always greet him happily anyway and Ace would just stare blankly.

As soon as he sat down, Ace and Luffy stared at him emotionless which unnerved him slightly.

"Hi Namur," Luffy chirped.

Namur gave an awkward nod in acknowledgement and continued his meal. It wasn't his fault that he didn't feel comfortable with them. He knew that if he got closer to the brats, they would only let him down by saying crap like 'fishmen are inferior to humans blah blah blah.'

When he finished his meal, he got up and went to the kitchen to put away his dirty dishes. He left the galley without saying a single word.

"What's up with him?" Ace asked. He wasn't blind. He could tell when someone was trying to avoid him intentionally.

"He probably thinks you don't like him because he's a fishmen." Thatch answered as he entered the galley.

"Why would he think that?" Ace was frowning at the accusation.

"A lot of humans think fishmen are disgusting and dirty." Marco honestly didn't understand why humans would think that. If anything, both races are so similar that they're practically the same.

"That's stupid. I think he's cool." Luffy beamed.

"It is stupid." the rest agreed while laughing.

* * *

"Next training will be about haki," Marco and Thatch were responsible for teaching haki to the brats because they were the closest to the two. Marco was the one giving intros because Thatch was never good at explaining.

"Haki is a power that is found in every living being in the world. There are two types of Haki common to everyone, which are called Kenbunshoku Haki and Busoshoku Haki. Kenbunshoku Haki let's you sense other people's presence and allows you to predict one's next move during battle. Busoshoku Haki coats your body in an invisible armor and allows you to hit logias like Ace." Marco explained.

"Seriously?!" Luffy yelled. "I can actually hit Ace with this?!"

"Like you ever could!" Ace smirked arrogantly.

Marco stopped the soon-to-be-fight by continuing his explanation."There is a third type that only a certain group of "chosen ones" are said to posses. Oyaji said that both of you have this power, but only Ace has unlocked it so far."

Ace looked shocked while Luffy was annoyed.

"No fair..." Luffy huffed.

"When did I unlock it?" Ace tried to think back to anything that might've seem strange.

"Oyaji said recently."

"What does the third one do again?"

"It pretty much knocks people unconscious. Most people unlock it during a stressful time." Marco responded.

Ace was deep in thought when he remembered the Grey Terminal incident. "Oh. I get it."

Marco looked at him questioningly and Ace decided to elaborate more.

"We ran into some trouble with a pirate crew and I guess I used it." Ace shrugged.

"Bluejam?" Marco asked.

"Yeah..." Ace looked at him warily.

"You mentioned him before -yoi..."

"Oh right."

"So do you guys understand what haki is now?" Marco looked at the boys.

"It's a mystery power." Luffy concluded while he thumped his right fist against his left palm.

Marco fell over.

"Yeah pretty much." Thatch and Ace agreed.

Marco stood up from his seat. "Haki training will start later. I have to go prepare for our next destination."

"Where are we going next?" Ace asked.

"We're preparing to enter the New World."

"New World?! Really?!" Luffy chirped.

Thatch laughed. "Yup. But we're heading to Fishmen Island first."

* * *

 **Ok ok I won't kill Thatch...I'll kill someone else! Hehe**


	11. Sabaody Archipelago

**Chapter 11 : Sabaody Archipelago**

The _Moby Dick_ was sailing peacefully in the Grand Line when a Marine ship suddenly emerged from the ocean.

The ship was about the same size as the two ships under Whitebeard's command, but it was a lot smaller than the main ship. When the ship was finally steady, the Marines came out on deck one by one.

"We came to take Whitebeard's head!" a man standing in the front said. He was wearing a Captain's jacket, signifying that he was the one in charge. "Surrender him now and I'll let the rest of you live!" he yelled.

The Whitebeard pirates snickered at his 'deal' and started drawing their weapons out.

"Like hell!" most of them shouted.

The fourth division jumped onto the enemy's ship and started attacking. The fifteenth division stood near the figurehead and started defending. Thatch and Vista watched their division fight in amusement. Their men were obviously winning without breaking a sweat.

Ace and Luffy were also watching the fight next to Whitebeard, disinterested.

"This fight is so boring," Luffy groaned in annoyance.

Whitebeard bellowed loudly and patted the little one's head.

After a couple of minutes, no one was standing except for the Captain that had jumped to the Moby Dick. The fourth division jumped back onto their ship triumphantly and watched in amusement at the Captain's reaction to his fallen men.

"How dare you do that to my men?!" the Marine Captain shouted.

Haruta snorted rudely. "Your fault."

The man glared at her and gripped his pistol in his right hand so hard that his knuckles were turning white. He cocked his gun and pointed it at Haruta.

She laughed at his desperate attempt and gave a smug smile. She could always slice the bullets before they even hit her. The man noticed her confident smile and he gulped. He knew he stood no chance against the Whitebeard Pirates, but he might as well kill at least one before he meets his own demise.

He quickly changed his target to the next person he saw and pulled the trigger without hesitation. Everyone was caught by surprise at his abrupt advance and looked to where the bullet was heading to. Vista and Haruta quickly rushed to the oblivious little boy, but they were too late.

Luffy had his back against the fight because it was boring him. He was currently playing with beetles until he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. He gave a startled yelp and fell over on his face, unmoving.

Ace's eyes grew wide in horror when he witnessed his little brother get shot right in front of him.

"LUFFY!" Ace ran to his sweet, innocent little brother that was now limp and looking lifeless. 'Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead.' Ace cried loudly in his head.

Luffy slowly got up after hearing his name get called. He had an annoyed expression on his face and started growling in agitation.

"What was that?" he huffed.

"Luffy! You're...okay?" Ace asked disbelievingly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Luffy cocked his head to the side.

"You were shot -yoi." Marco started checking the boy for any injuries. Fortunately, the only injury he sustained was a small circular bruise on his back.

"I was shot?!" Luffy asked wide-eyed.

"Maybe it didn't work because you're rubber?" Marco asked to no one in particular.

When the crew saw that their brat was alright, they brought their attention to the culprit who was slowly backing away under their intense glare. Whitebeard; however, cleared his throat, signaling that he wanted to take care of the person that dared hurt one of his sons. Slowly, the crew backed away and watched the next event knowingly.

The Marine cowered under Whitebeard's full form and tried to jump off the railing, but he ended up getting caught by a huge hand.

Whitebeard sliced the man with his bisento and threw said man in a random direction. The man's screams could be heard slowly fading out.

Both Ace and Luffy watched in awe at their father's strength. They never really saw him fight since his children would usually do that.

Ace walked up to Whitebeard with his arms crossed, defiance shown in his eyes.

"I wanted to be the one that took care of him." Ace said with a slight pout.

Whitebeard gave a loud chuckle and ruffled Ace's hair like he did with all of his kids. "Sorry. Couldn't help myself."

"Hmmph." Ace huffed indignantly.

After the show was over, Luffy was taken to the infirmary by Thatch to double check that he was not injured in any way. As soon as he was done getting prodded by the nurses, he ran to his brother's side and they started their daily spars.

* * *

The two boys were getting awfully bored being stuck on the ship for so long because it had been two weeks since they've been on land. Although they trained consistently with the commanders, Ace was itching to get some _real_ killing done. Preferably an animal with lots and lots of meat.

"When are we going to Fishmen Island?" Luffy whined.

Ace, Luffy, Marco, and Thatch were playing a game of poker because Marco knew that if the boys were _bored_ , that meant trouble. More trouble than a bored Thatch could cause. The thought of those three plotting a prank to ease their boredom sent a shiver down Marco's spine.

"Well," Marco folded after seeing Thatch's smug face. That man really could not keep a poker face. "We need to head to Sabaody Archipelago first to get our ships coated. Then we can head to Fishmen Island."

"Coated?" Ace asked, his face remaining monotonous. His poker face was around the same level as the First Division commander as he was used to always doing this to fool people.

"Yeah. Fishmen Island is under the sea level, so the coating will help us not get crushed by the pressure." Thatch answered for his friend.

"We're going under the sea?! Cool!" Luffy chirped as his imagination took over him. Huge sea kings and meat was all he could think about.

His stomach grumbling took him out of his daydream and he headed into the kitchen and came back with meat. Marco and Ace followed with a sulky Thatch treading behind. "I had such a good hand..." he mumbled.

After gathering a lot of food, they resumed to doing nothing but eating. Marco and Thatch had finished all of their paperwork for their division, frankly, the brats were nice company, so they hung out together a lot.

"So how long are we going to be in Sabaody?" Ace asked.

"Hmmm," Marco contemplated. "It usually takes a week for Rayleigh to coat our ships."

"Who's Rain?" Luffy said with his mouth full. He continued inhaling food while looking at Marco curiously.

"It's Rayleigh. And he's kind of like an old rival of Oyaji -yoi." Marco took a mouthful of mashed potatoes while reminiscing the old times.

"He's also Roger's first mate," Thatch added.

Ace visibly tensed and slowed down his pace in eating.

This little gesture did not go unnoticed by the commanders and Luffy.

Marco nudged his friend and gave a stern look. In return, Thatch gave a sheepish grin that he always pulled when he knew he did something wrong.

Luffy knew that Ace did not like his father, though he did not know why. The Pirate King was a cool title; therefore, the man who held that title must of been cool. Right?

"You know..." Thatch started. "Roger wasn't a bad man or anything. Oyaji respects him and it takes a lot to get his respect." He placed his arm over Ace's shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze before retracting his arm.

"Whatever." Ace muttered under his breath.

They continued their meal in silence until one of Marco's men came in to report a Marine ship in sight. Apparently, there were five of them, with the Lieutenant being the highest rank they have.

Luffy ran out the door, excited. He's been desperately craving to fight and to have an adventure. At least he can do one of those.

The news of multiple enemy ships spread like wildfire and soon, most of the Whitebeard Pirates were present, and on deck.

Whitebeard was with the two kids like usual during fights. Since he didn't want a repeat of what happened to his youngest child before, he sat both of them on his lap and began telling a story of when he was in his youth.

"...and the water was all white and they had these machines called wavers..."

Ace and Luffy were engrossed into the story until a loud voice sounded, obviously being projected by a Den Den Mushi.

"We did not come for your head, Whitebeard," the voice of the Marine was loud enough for all of East Blue to hear. "The Marines will offer a prize money if you give the two brats to us."

Curious, Ace turned his head to the man and asked loudly. "How much?"

The Marine was flustered as he did not expect that response coming from one of the brats.

"Uh, 100 million beli." the man stammered.

"But that's less than our bounties put together! What kind of deal is this?" Ace asked exasperatedly.

The crew was watching in astonishment at the little exchange between the Marine Lieutenant and Ace. They would never sell the boys out, of course, but seeing the government's desperate attempts were funny as hell.

Vista, who was deeply annoyed ever since their last encounter with the Marines, got on the figurehead, and with a precise movement, sent a flying blade attack, cutting the five ships in half, neatly. He walked back to his original position with a contempt look on his face.

Everyone laughed while watching the Marines trying to stay afloat. When the show was over and none of the Marines were in sight, they carried on with their duties as if nothing happened.

Luffy was still in awe after seeing Vista cut up the ships without breaking a sweat. He ran up to said man and tugged at his pants to get his attention.

When the man looked down, Luffy started rambling about how cool it was. "Can you teach me how to do that?!"

"Eh. Thought you didn't like swords." Vista said teasingly.

"Not anymore! They're cool now!" Luffy looked up at the man with big pleading eyes.

Vista laughed. "Okay okay. We'll increase your swordsmanship training, alright?"

"Mmm!" Luffy bounced away as soon as Vista gave his approval.

* * *

They finally docked at the next island, Sabaody Archipelago. Some of the crew members immediately jumped off the railings and kissed the ground. Being land deprived can be, well hard.

Ace and Luffy were about to do the same thing when the back of their shirts were grabbed and they were hoisted up by two men.

"You can't go by yourselves -yoi." Marco looked into Ace's defiant eyes in amusement. Oh, how that reminded him of when he was a kid.

"Why not~" Luffy whined.

"There's slave traders here and you're just kids. Who knows what could happen." Thatch said while shaking his head to get rid of possible scenarios.

Ace snarled at Thatch for calling him a kid.

"You can still have adventures..." Thatch said to Luffy with a smirk. "Oh, but with us of course."

"There's an amusement park. Let's head there -yoi."

* * *

"WOW! Let's do it again!" Luffy cheered.

"Luffy," Ace warned. "We went on the same ride eleven times already."

"Please~" Luffy whined. He looked at his brother and the commanders with big sad eyes.

"This is the last time -yoi," Marco got up from the bench reluctantly along with Thatch and Ace.

A happy Luffy and a nauseated Thatch later, the four of them were resting on a nearby bench.

"Can we go again?" Luffy looked at the three with his best puppy dog face, which the three responded by looking away. They weren't going to get tricked again.

"Let's just head to Oyaji for now. We still have the rest of the week to come back here." Thatch smiled at the boy. He was getting real light-headed from the amusement park. They weren't as fun anymore after going on the same ride for God knows how long.

Ace and Luffy were leading the way to Shakky's Rip-off Bar because it was located on the same grove they docked.

The two boys were about three meters in front of the commanders. Marco and Thatch couldn't help but noticed the strange glances the two boys were getting from some of the adults walking by. Luffy didn't seem to notice this as he was too busy bouncing all over the place, but Ace certainly did. He pulled his little brother closer to him, and they were walking at a quicker pace.

The Whitebeard commanders followed suit. Whenever someone tried to 'snatch' one of the brats or was looking at them funny, the commanders would clear their throats and glared daggers at the culprit. Most of them ran away after recognizing they were Whitebeard commanders. After a while, the two were getting tired of doing this so Marco grabbed Luffy while Thatch grabbed Ace, much to the latter's protest.

"Hey!" Ace struggled under Thatch's grip. "What are you doing?!"

"Dunno. Felt like hugging you I guess." Thatch answered.

Ace gave up struggling after five minutes and was calming observing the people they passed. Luffy, on the other hand, was greeting some of the people happily while enjoying the high view on Marco's shoulder.

Marco and Thatch suddenly tensed up and ducked behind an abandoned building, taking Ace and Luffy off their shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Ace whispered.

"Celestial Dragons." Thatch said.

Ace and Luffy stuck their tongues out in disgust and peeked over the broken wall.

The civilians were on their knees with their heads down while three people in weird white puffy suits were sitting on someone's back while that person crawled. All three of them were wearing a similar outfit that resembled a space suit with a bubble covering their heads.

"What's that thing on their head? Is it the same bubbles as the ones here?" Ace pointed at a bubble that just sprouted from the ground.

"Yeah. They don't want to breathe the same air as us 'commoners' so they do that," Marco rolled his eyes dramatically.

"But why are we hiding?" Luffy questioned.

"We'd rather die than get on our knees for them," Thatch answered simply.

Luffy nodded his head in agreement and watched them get farther and farther away. When the coast was clear, they all got up from their hiding spot and continued their way to their father.

After ten minutes of walking, they were in front of the bar. When they entered in, they were greeted by the rest of the commanders and their father. Besides them, there was an old man with round glasses and a middle-aged woman with short jet-black hair.

Rayleigh observed the new guests that just came in carefully.

"This is Rayleigh," Marco pointed at the white-haired man with a peculiar goatee. "And this is Shakky." he gestured to the only other woman besides Haruta.

Ace glared at the man that was apparently Rayleigh, with a hateful eye. Rayleigh raised an eyebrow at this, but brushed it aside.

Rayleigh observed the boy with the straw hat with a smile. "Monkey D. Luffy, is it?"

"Yeah!" Luffy cheered. "How do you know me Ossan?"

Ace glared warily at the first mate, waiting for his answer.

"Shanks told me about you," Rayleigh took a chug from his sake.

"You know Shanks?" Luffy raided the fridge and was currently stuffing his face with meat.

"Yeah. He was a cabin boy on our ship."

"Ehhh?!" Luffy spat out his food. "SHANKS WAS ON THE PIRATE KING'S SHIP?!"

"What, he didn't tell you?" Rayleigh asked, genuinely surprised. "It was about almost a year ago when he came here without his hat and his left arm."

Luffy gulped in surprise and waited for the old man to continue.

"When I asked him what happened, he excitedly started telling me about you. Ever since then, I've always wanted to meet you one day. I guess that came earlier than expected," Rayleigh laughed heartily.

Luffy giggled and grabbed the rim of his hat and pulled it down over his head. "Shanks…"

Everyone in the bar smiled at their exchange, even Ace. Even though Ace never met this Shanks person, he came to respect the man that saved his little brother. He would one day meet this person and thank him properly after all the lessons he received from Makino.

"And who might you be?" Shakky smiled to Ace.

"Ace. Portgas D. Ace." he said curtly.

"Portgas huh…" Rayleigh said thoughtfully.

"Yeah. You got a problem with that?" Ace held up a fist while glaring.

Rayleigh ignored the threat and smiled. "No problem," He observed the boy some more, which unnerved Ace. "By the way," he continued. "Roger wasn't a bad man."

Ace huffed but he was still uncomfortable on how the old man was able to read him so easily.

"I'm gonna get some fresh air," Ace stretched his arms from his seat. "C'mon Luffy."

"Okay."

Marco got up from his seat too. "Wait-"

"Don't worry," Ace interrupted Marco. "We'll be behind the bar."

"Okay…" Marco sat back down. "If you see any people looking at you weirdly, yell, alright?"

"Okay. _Mom_." Ace snorted.

Everyone laughed at Marco's new nickname and Thatch put his arm over Marco's shoulder. "You really are a mother hen, ain't ya?" Thatch laughed off the glare he got from his friend and resumed his drinking game with Izo.

* * *

Ace was watching his little brother play with a runaway dog. Ace was still pensive about what Rayleigh said. 'Everyone keeps saying that the Pirate King was a merciless killer while his first mate said the opposite,' Ace sighed internally. 'Not to mention, Oyaji also said the same exact thing...' He snapped out of thoughts when he saw Luffy's retreating figure.

"Luffy!" he called out.

Ace finally caught up to Luffy after a few minutes of running and grabbed him.

"Don't run off like that again!" Ace reprimanded his brother. He bonked his head for good measures and walked back to the bar. They were stopped by ten burly men that surrounded them, cutting off any escape routes.

Ace pushed Luffy behind him like usual and glared at them. The leader of the group spoke up with a chilling tone that unnerved Ace.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

* * *

 **I felt like I made a lot of grammar mistakes on this ch after rereading it so sorry X_X. I will re-edit this later.**


	12. Captured

**WARNING : There's an adult theme in this chapter, but it's only implied. No graphic details.**

 **Chapter 12 : Captured**

* * *

" _Don't run off like that again!" Ace reprimanded his brother. He bonked his head for good measures and walked back to the bar. They were stopped by ten burly men that surrounded them, cutting off any escape routes._

 _Ace pushed Luffy behind him like usual and glared at them. The leader of the group spoke up with a chilling tone that unnerved Ace._

" _Well, well, what do we have here?"_

* * *

Darkness. That was all Ace could see when he woke up from his long slumber. He slowly got up to a sitting position but quickly laid down when he felt a sharp pain in his back.

' _What the hell happened?'_

Ace closed his eyes to ignore the severe headache that was starting. He let out a deep sigh and swiftly recalled the past events that led up to him blacking out and he shot up again, ignoring the throbbing pain in his lower back. He frantically searched his surroundings for any clue where his brother might be.

"Luffy!" he called out.

He heard a feeble whimper to his right side and sighed in relief.

"A-Ace…"

"It's okay Lu, I'm right here." Ace hugged his fragile looking brother close to him. He hugged his little brother until the whimpering had subsided and he reluctantly let go.

Ace tried to summon his fire to see where they were, but he found that it was not working. Agitated, he started flailing his arms everywhere, trying to make it burst into flames, but nothing happened. Ace started patting himself down, looking for any indication as to why his powers weren't working when his hand landed on an ankle bracelet on his left leg. When his fingers brushed past it, he felt himself growing weaker and weaker. He quickly drew back his hand and confirmed that Luffy had the same thing on him as well.

"Ace, I'm scared," Luffy said in a quiet whisper.

Ace could only see his brother's outline in the darkness, but he could tell Luffy was on the verge of crying again.

"It'll be alright," Ace comforted. "Oyaji and them will save us." There was a slight doubt dripping from his voice, but Luffy didn't notice. The latter became less tense after hearing his family would come to their rescue, so Ace was glad he had said that.

Abruptly, the lights were turned on, revealing a white room, that was surprisingly clean. There wasn't a single speck of dust anywhere. What caught Ace's attention was the metal bars around him. They were in a tiny cell in a tiny room.

"Seems like you two have woken up." the man that just came in the room said.

The man looked middle-aged with his black hair that had white streaks here and there. His clothes were ragged, much like the boys' clothes right now and when he spoke, the boys could see his rotting teeth that were black and chipped.

The closer the man got to the cell, the more Ace and Luffy backed to the cell. They stopped when they hit the other side of the cell and looked at the man. One looked with fearful eyes and one looked with hateful eyes.

"Who the fuck are you?" the older raven-haired boy said.

The man merely hummed in response and looked through his bag. He took out two stale pieces of bread and a mini bottle of water and threw it inside the cage.

Luffy was slowly reaching out for the food from behind Ace, but his hand was slapped away.

"It could be poisoned, idiot!" Ace kicked the food out of the cell.

The food landed near the man's feet, which was tapping impatiently.

"Listen," the man growled. "The food ain't poisoned. Can't risk it."

"What do you mean by that?!"

"It means we're slaves, Ace." Luffy said dryly.

Ace raised a shock eyebrow at his brother who simply shaked his head in dismay. He spaced out while remembering his conversation with his other brother a while back.

Many months ago, Ace had gotten really sick, so he and Sabo had to sneak into the latter's house to steal some medicine. In there, they overheard Sabo's parents talking about getting some slaves to 'have fun with.' After they had safely got out of the house undetected, Luffy questioned his older brother about what slaves were. The boy in question turned pale and refused to answer.

Sabo couldn't tell him. Why? Because he was ashamed. Ashamed of what his people did to other humans. Also because he didn't want to kill Luffy's innocence. After much prompting from Luffy, or in his case, whining, Sabo relented.

He went into full details about slaves, World Nobles, and Auction Houses and how his parents dreamed of going into one someday to purchase one.

After hearing this, Luffy could not sleep the whole night. Usually, he would forget stuff like this because it was boring. But this, this was different. The thought of losing his freedom terrified him and made him want to curl up and cry in a corner.

Luffy sighed as he was brought back to the present. The man was gone and Ace was looking at him worriedly.

Luffy told him everything.

Ace layed back down on the cold cement. He closed his eyes and let out a frustrated yell. He had to get out. _They_ had to get out. There was no way he would let Luffy become a slave. It would be like spitting into Sabo's face. And kicking him in the balls.

* * *

Whitebeard slowly raised his head off the table. He checked the bar and saw that all of his sons and daughters were passed out from the party last night. He felt a slight tug on his heart for some odd reason. The last time he had this odd feeling was when one of his sons, the Second Division Commander, was murdered. They had not been able to find out who had done it, but he was still furious and wrecked havoc on the island where he had found the corpse.

He saw Shakky and Rayleigh behind him with a kid that was no more than ten.

"What, you got a kid you didn't tell me about?" He joked lightly, but his heart wasn't into it.

Whitebeard turned serious when he saw the grim faces on the two former pirates. 'This must be the bad thing that's bothering me.' he thought.

"Kid said he saw two kids get captured by slave traders." Rayleigh informed.

Whitebeard looked concerned for the the two kids' children when realization dawned on him.

"WHAT?!" Whitebeard exclaimed. He looked around and he noted that the two brats were nowhere to be seen. Though, his exclamation woke his children up. He looked to the kid for a further explanation.

The kid was a bit frightened by the giant's outburst, but Shakky kneeled and calmed him down by rubbing the boy's back in soothing circles.

"W-Well," he fidgeted. "I lost my dog and I was searching for him. All the sudden, he shows up and starts dragging me to the back of this bar and I saw two boys around my age fightin' a bunch of older dudes. They were kidnapped and I thought I'd come here to tell their parents."

The boy looked to the right to avoid the scrutinzing gaze Whitebeard was giving him.

"I'M SORRY!" he blurted out in panic. He'd rather not get killed today. He shook off Shakky's hand and ran out the bar. He ran a safe distance and then started walking. Who would of thought their family were the Whitebeard Pirates?

All the Whitebeard Pirates saw red. They were literally seething in their seats.

"Search all the Human Auctioning Houses," Whitebeard ordered absentmindedly. "Don't stop searching until you find them.

Everyone present rushed to the exit, eager to find their missing younger brothers and beat the crap out of the slave traders.

* * *

Ace and Luffy were thrown roughly back into the cell after being punished roughly for not eating anything. The perpetrators left the room without a word. The last one out threw a bottle of water and some bandages.

Ace carefully wrapped Luffy's wounds on his back. Part of his skin was torn off from the whipping, but they weren't too severe. After he was done, Ace tried to do his own, but he couldn't reach his back fully without wincing from the pain.

"Let me do it." Luffy said while holding his hands out.

Ace quietly handed the bandages without a word. His lower back and butt were throbbing painfully, but he refused to cry. Luffy wanted to question his brother because he knew Ace was hiding something from him, but the latter already fell asleep as soon as his back was cleaned and wrapped.

* * *

Ace took out the sharp rock from his pocket and engrave a vertical line on the cell's floor. There were four other lines next to the one he just made. Five days. He and Luffy have been here for five days.

"They'll come." Luffy would always say when Ace marked the new day. Though they couldn't see the sun to tell what time it is or how many days it's been, they guessed how. They got food every now in which they assume is once a day.

Ace heard a click on the door and he winced. His butt was still sore from the earlier punishment, but still, Ace refused to show he was weakened by a little thing. He only hoped the man would listen and not defile Luffy like he had promised.

They recognized the man as the person on the first day. He was still wearing the same ragged clothes, only this time, it appeared more disheveled. His repugnant smell made the two boys gagged silently. They knew why the man was here. They had been refusing to eat anything. They only drank the water to keep themselves alive.

The man knelt down and stared at the two boys' defiant eyes and smirked.

"No one's gonna save ya so suck it up." the man winked towards Ace and the latter shivered a little at the innuendo.

"Nuh uh!" Luffy exclaimed. "Oyaji will save us!"

"You mean Whitebeard?" the man chuckled darkly. "It's been five days already. Where is your Oyaji now huh?"

Luffy stuck out his tongue and turned to the side. "Whatever old man."

"You little-"

"He'll find us." Ace interrupted, hoping to draw the man's attention on him instead of Luffy.

"He won't be able to find you." the old man declared confidently.

Ace glared at the man while clenching the bars. "Then you're underestimating him. He has Haki. He can sense us and-"

"Can it extend to the ocean then?"

"What?"

The man smirked again in victory and walked to the door. "We're on a ship, brat. We left Sabaody Archipelago five days ago." With that, he closed the door behind him and laughed loudly, leaving the two horrified kids alone.

* * *

Marco ran his hand over his pineapple-like hair in frustration. The whole crew had searched every nook and cranny in the island, even Rayleigh and Shakky helped, but there were still no signs of them.

On the fifth day, he felt like hitting himself on the head. I can use Haki. 'Why didn't I think of it before?!' he reprimanded himself. He had been so busy stressing himself out that he never thought about using it.

He closed his eyes and slowly scanned all 79 Groves. His heart clenched when he couldn't spot the brats' life forces anywhere. He walked back to the ship where his Captain was waiting impatiently for any news of his missing sons. He could see at least ten huge empty barrels of sake next to him.

"Oyaji, I don't think they're on the island," Marco reported bitterly.

"What makes you say that, my son?"

"Haki."

Silence.

Whitebeard crushed the barrel of sake in his hand. _Of course_.

Marco chuckled in amusement. "Same reaction."

"Tell your siblings to retreat onto the ship. Assuming they left the island as soon as they were captured, I'd say we are five days behind."

"Got it."

Marco took out his Den Den Mushi that was connected to the other commanders.

"Commander meeting in ten minutes. Tell your division to come back onto the ship. I'll explain later." With that, he hung up. He was about to walk away when his father called him.

"Yes?" Marco asked.

"I know you're deeply worried, Marco, but _please_ , take a shower."

Marco sniffed at his clothes and crinkled his nose in disgust and laughed. "Alright."

* * *

"So, what's up?" Haruta asked.

"They're not on the island -yoi. They have a huge time advantage if they did set sail five days ago, but if we go on at full speed the whole time, we can catch up to them by the end of the week." Marco said.

The other commanders in the meeting nodded their head grimly and the meeting continued with discussing possible strategies.

* * *

"You have the kids and the thing I asked for, right?" a gruffly voice said through a Den Den Mushi.

"Yes." the other person on the line replied.

"We can't mess this up or-"

"Don't worry about it, everything is undercontrolled, _Teach_."

* * *

 **I know most of you guys want me to kill off BB but what** _ **good**_ **guy do you want me to kill? Someone suggested Izo before...**

 **And Marco and Whitebeard prob seemed a bit OOC with the haki part oops X_X I was in a rush writing this.**


	13. New Friend? Assassin-

**WARNING : This chapter sucks.**

 **Chapter 13 : New Friend? Assassin-**

" _You have the kids and the thing I asked for, right?" a gruffly voice said through a Den Den Mushi._

" _Yes." the other person on the line replied._

" _We can't mess this up or-"_

" _Don't worry about it, everything is undercontrolled, Teach."_

* * *

"You idiot! I told you to stop calling me that name!" Teach growled. "I can't let the old man find out yet!"

"Then what do you suggest I call you then?" the man said in a sarcastic tone.

"Blackbeard," Teach said after a long pause. "That way I can-"

"Oi Teach!" A distant voice sounded through the pirate's door.

"I gotta go," Teach said briskly and hung up. He opened his closed door and faced his guest with a fake smile plastered onto his face. "Yes, Commander?"

"It is Second Division's turn for watch tonight. You're in charge," Marco said cooly.

"Understood," Teach quickly tried to close the door shut, but Marco blocked it from closing with his left foot.

"Is something wrong, Commander?" Teach started sweating profusely as the First Division Commander's gaze was locked onto his.

"I should be asking that," the blonde commander muttered quietly. He looked at his nervous subordinate and gave a light smile. "Nope. Sorry about that. Have a nice evening." Marco drew his foot back and started walking down the hallway with his hands tucked into his pant pocket.

Teach sighed in relief and locked his door. He wiped the sweat that built up in his eyebrows from the conversation and headed over to his bed to finish his 'conversation.'

* * *

Marco scratched his head as he headed down the hallway. Lately, he noticed that Teach seemed a bit...off. He would smile a fake smile in front of people like how he did just now and would smile genuinely at random times like he just thought up a great plan. He also had a weird glint in his eyes ever since the boys went missing. Almost like an evil glint. Marco slapped a hand on his forehead and reprimanded himself for suspecting his own brother.

"I need to rest," Marco concluded outloud.

"Aww why's our little blue chicken frowning?" Thatch said as he came out of his cabin.

Marco opened his door with a deep scowl from his friend's remark.

"Hey," Thatch placed his arm on Marco's shoulder. "What's wrong, buddy? You know you can tell your pal anything, right?" Thatch said with deep concern in his voice.

"It's nothing," Marco took off the arm that was slung on his shoulder. "Just be careful. Anything can happen at anytime so be careful."

Thatch was about to make a joke about Marco having mother's intuition, but dropped it. "Okay okay," Thatch entered his friend's room in hopes of raising Marco's mood. "So anyways, I just placed invisible green dye on all the bar soaps…"

"THATCH!" Marco yelled but there was a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Oh, would you look at the time-" Thatch ran out of the room as fast he could while laughing hysterically. He originally didn't plan on letting Marco in on his prank, but it seemed like he did the right thing when he heard Marco's laughter as soon as he slammed the door. The prank was meant to make everyone stop being so gloomy. He himself was depressed that the boys were kidnapped, no, he was furious, but someone had to brighten the mood a bit and he felt it was his duty as the ship's official prankster to do it.

* * *

Ace watched as a new man came into the room. He had a lavender dress shirt, black pants with a purple and blue belt that covered part of shirt, and a black cape. His most distinguishing figure was his peculiar glasses and his joker hat.

"Who are you?" Luffy said in a curious, but hoarse tone.

"Van Auger."

The two boys were taken by surprise. This was the first time someone actually said their own name without a nasty remark.

"Well what the hell do you want?" Ace said. He got into his usual defensive position, but he felt his knees start wobbling. He knew they would give out any second, so he sat down with Luffy right next to him.

"Nothing. Just curious about these so called 'Demon Brothers.'"

"Who the hell do you think we are that you can just watch us like we're animals, huh?!" Ace yelled.

"Now, now you-"

 _Purupurupurupuru_

Van Auger pulled out his Den Den Mushi from under his cape. "Hello," he answered neutrally.

"You have the kids and the thing I asked for, right?"

Ace's and Luffy's ears perked up at the mention of 'kids.'

"Yes," the caped man responded.

"We can't mess this up or-"

"Don't worry about it, everything is undercontrolled, Teach."

Ace's mouth was agape when he heard that name while Luffy was trying to recall that familiar-sounding name.

As soon as Van Auger heard his soon-to-be Captain hung up on him, Luffy jumped up in exclamation.

"AH! It's that fat, hairy dude with ugly teeth!" Luffy yelled. His mood quickly changed when he realized what just happened.

"That bastard! Betraying Oyaji like that!" Ace growled.

"Who's betraying who?" Van Auger said smartly. "It's not betrayal if you were never with them to begin with."

"You-!"

"Well," Van Auger stood up and dusted his dress pants. "Time to go," he said as he headed towards the white door.

"Come back here so I can kick your ass!" Ace yelled.

Van Auger smirked. "By the way, how do you know this wasn't Whitebeard's plan hm?"

"What?" Ace asked.

"No way!" Luffy glared daggers at the man. "Oyaji isn't like that!"

"Then where is he huh? Rescuing you? Your so-called father isn't here because this was his plan all along. To get rid of you demon spawns." Van Auger wasn't the real teasing type, but at least this would diminish their hope.

"Shut up!" Luffy growled. "Oyaji would ne'er do that!"

Ace...did not know what to say. When he thought of the Great Whitebeard, he thought of a caring person that was more like a father than his own biological father. The thought of his 'father' betraying him like that made his heart clench painfully. But, he refused to give in to that feeling. He knew it couldn't be true. The very same man that fought the World Government and took them in, knowing full well about their heritages, betraying them just like that? Impossible. Right?

His thoughts were interrupted to see the door open once again, revealing a burly, giant man with purple hair. He had an armor encasing his entire right arm.

What caught the boys' attention was the mermaid in his arms. She looked about Ace's and Luffy's age.

"What do you have now, Burgess?" Van Auger raised his eyebrows at his comrade.

"Found her on a bench unconscious so I grabbed her. I bet we could make a lot off of her," Burgess reasoned.

"Perhaps," Van Auger readjusted his glasses. "Put her with them." He jabbed his thumb behind him, where Ace and Luffy were caged at.

Jesus Burgess huffed indignantly at being ordered around, but obeyed nonetheless.

The two pirates left the room before the two kids could say anything.

"Hey, Ace?" Luffy poked the mermaid's tail with his finger carelessly.

"Yeah, Lu?" Ace was indifferent about his new cellmate.

"Do you think she can poop? But where does it come from…? Neh, do you know Ace?" Luffy questioned.

"No! How the hell would I know that!" Ace blushed furiously.

"Hehe Ace's face is red!" Luffy laughed loudly.

"Shut up!" Ace kicked Luffy's head.

"Mmm." Ace and Luffy looked down from where the sound came from and saw their new guest stirring in their sleep.

"AHHH!" the mermaid yelled as she sat up.

"AHHH!" Ace and Luffy jumped back in surprise.

"Why are you shouting?" the mysterious mermaid asked with a head tilt.

"Because you shouted!" Ace yelled with a comically angry face.

"Why am I being ignored again…?" a solemn voice said in a corner.

The three young kids looked to the direction where the voice came from.

"Pappug!" the girl shouted in joy.

"Keimi!" the marine animal said in the same amount of enthusiasm. They hugged each other.

"Whaaa! A talking starfish!" Luffy's eyes started sparkling as he stared at the creature.

"Yow! Nice to meet you!" the starfish said.

"Um," the mermaid shift uncomfortably. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm Luffy," Luffy said energetically. "And this is Ace!" he pointed to the older raven-haired boy.

"Yo." Ace put up a hand.

"I'm Keimi!" the young mermaid finally introduced herself.

"Pappug!"

Luffy started talking to the mermaid and the starfish ecstatically about his adventures as though he wasn't currently being held captive right now.

Ace smiled seeing his brother shed joy onto their new cell mates. He turned his gaze to the white wall, closing his eyes as he heard waves crashing against the ship. He felt a shiver go down his spine, but dismissed it as fatigue.

* * *

Izo walked down the Commanders' hallway discreetly, shifting left and right while staying hidden in the shadows. He did not have any makeup on. He would rather walk on needles than let a _certain_ 4th division commander see him like this. He would end up becoming the center of all his ugly jokes. Izo almost made it to his room until he felt two presences around the corner. Curious, he stuck his head out and saw a shadowy retreating figure. He could not make out who it was, but Izo could tell that that person had a huge build. Storing the man's physique into the back of his head, he looked down and shrieked in horror.

"THATCH?!"

* * *

 **My next chapter will be a lot sooner and a lot better. And longer. At least five times the length of this. PROMISE.**

 **Thank you for all the favs, follows, nd reviews! I rly appreciate it bc it helps me get a feel of how im doing so thanks :D Have a nice night.**


	14. Sorry

**PLEASE READ**

Hello. Sorry I haven't updated over a year. There are too many things going on right now. I'm not sure if I can continue anymore. If anyone is interested in adopting this story and continuing it, PM me.

I might finish this but that won't happen for a long time.

Thank you to all my readers and sorry for the inconvenience.


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